NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team silenced the rowdy Auburn fan contingent when they upset the Tigers 5-2 in Nashville on Sunday afternoon.
Vanderbilt (7-4, 1-1) took doubles wins at Nos. 1 and 2 to win advance 1-0 over the No. 37 Tigers (7-2, 1-1) going into the singles round. Nik Cromydas clinched his second Commodore victory of 2007 with a third set win over Alexey Tsyrenov at No. 2.
Freshman Vijay Paul earned the first Vanderbilt singles win, defeating Milan Krnjentin in straight sets (6-3, 6-4).
Junior Evan Dufaux snapped a seven-match singles losing streak with a win over Czech Republic native Lukas Marsoun. Dufaux fell behind early in the first set and Marsoun took the first win 6-2. Dufaux fired back with a 6-1 win and took the third set 6-4.
“After that first set I pulled back and played safer,” Dufaux said. “I kept more balls in and gave myself a chance to attack, it gave me good momentum.”
Nik Cromydas followed with the clincher and Andy Mack finished the afternoon with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Auburn’s Terence Nugent.
Nathan Sachs and Ryan Preston both dropped contests. Sachs fell 6-1, 6-2 to Tiger Pawel Dilaj at No. 5, while Preston was edged 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to Auburn’s six-foot-ten-inch Robbert Lathouwers at No. 1.
The win is Vanderbilt’s third upset since mid-February. The Commodores previoiusly defeated then-No. 23 Clemson 4-3 in Nashville and then-No. 43 MTSU 5-2 in Murfreesboro.
The Tigers were looking for a second SEC win following their 4-3 victory over No. 38 Kentucky in Lexington the previous Friday. In 2006 the Commodores went winless in the conference until five matches into the season when they notched a 4-3 victory over Mississippi State. That same season Auburn defeated the Commodores 7-0 in Auburn.
Vanderbilt will look for more SEC wins as they travel to Arkansas and LSU March 9 and 11.
RESULTS
Vanderbilt 5, Auburn 2
Doubles
1. Preston/Dufaux (VU) d. Lathouwers/Marsoun (AU) 8-4
2. Mack/Magarik (VU) d. Tsyernov/Krnjetin (AU) 8-6
3. Nugent/Dilaj (AU) d. Sachs/Paul (VU) 8-7
Order of finish: 1, 2*, 3
Singles
1. Robbert Lathouwers (AU) d. #70 Ryan Preston (VU) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
2. Nik Cromydas (VU) d. Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
3. Evan Dufaux (VU) d. Lukas Marsoun (AU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
4. Vijay Paul (VU) d. Milan Krnjetin (AU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Pawel Dilaj (AU) d. Nathan Sachs (VU) 6-1, 6-2
6. Andy Mack (VU) d. Terence Nugent (AU) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 5, 4, 3, 2*, 1, 6
