EVANSTON, Ill. – The 35th-ranked Vanderbilt men’s tennis team picked up a 4-3 road win over the Northwestern Wildcats Friday evening.
VU began the match by taking the doubles point for the 1-0 advantage. The Commodores saw success on courts one and three with 6-3 victories on both courts thanks to Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe and Daniel Valent and George Harwell. Panu Virtanen and Lachlan McPhee trailed on court two 4-5 at the conclusion of the doubles point.
The Dores earned first set advantages on four singles courts, including a tiebreak victory by Maxwell Freeman on court five.
Harwell continued to prove himself as a vital part of the VU singles lineup, as the freshman picked up his eighth-straight victory and earned Vanderbilt the 2-0 lead. Harwell handedly downed AJ Joshi on court six 6-2, 6-2 to remain undefeated on the season.
No. 50 Klinger limited his opponent, Nick Brookes, to two games in the opening set on court two. Klinger rallied from a 0-3 second set deficit to force a tiebreaker. The junior pushed past Brookes in the tiebreaker for Vandy’s third team point with a 6-2, 7-6(6) victory.
Following his tiebreak first-set victory, Freeman continued to propel himself toward his fourth win at the No. 5 singles position. The freshman clinched Vanderbilt’s eighth victory of the season (8-2) with a straight-set win on court five over Jason Seidman 7-6, 6-3.
After the clinch, Northwestern rallied to take courts four, three and one to make the final score 4-3. No. 52 Valent suffered a tough loss to unranked Dominik Stary in a match-deciding third set, 10-point tiebreaker on court one 3-6, 7-5, 1-0(11).
Vanderbilt will face Indiana Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. for the squad’s final road tune-up before Southeastern Conference play begins.
Vanderbilt 4, Northwestern 3
1. Dominik Stary (NU) def. #52 Daniel Valent (VANDY) 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (13-11)
2. #50 Cameron Klinger (VANDY) def. Nick Brookes (NU) 6-2, 7-6 (8-6)
3. #107 Antonioni Fasano (NU) def. Baker Newman (VANDY) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1
4. Ben Vandixhorn (NU) def. Billy Rowe (VANDY) 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
5. Maxwell Freeman (VANDY) def. Jason Seidman (NU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
6. George Harwell (VANDY) def. AJ Joshi (NU) 6-2, 6-2
1. Cameron Klinger/Billy Rowe (VANDY) def. Ben Vandixhorn/Dominik Stary (NU) 6-3
2. Nick Brookes/Michael Lorenzini (NU) def. Lachlan McPhee/Panu Virtanen (VANDY) 5-4
3. Daniel Valent/George Harwell (VANDY) def. Antonioni Fasano/Chris Ephron (NU) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (6,2,5,4,3,1) Official: John Coleman
