LOS ANGELES – Having lost two consecutive matches, Vanderbilt’s men’s tennis team got back on track Sunday when the 49th-ranked Commodores wrapped up play at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend with a 6-1 win over No. 70 Radford in the consolation match.
“It is always nice to get a win,” Head Coach Ian Duvenhage said. “We got off to a good start and then kind of let (Radford) back in the match, but overall I like what I saw today.”
With the win Vanderbilt improved to 4-2 on the season, while Radford fell to 0-4. Vanderbilt entered Sunday’s match having lost consecutive matches to No. 41 Michigan and No. 1 USC. In both of those losses, Vanderbilt dug an early deficit by losing the doubles point — something the Commodores had yet to do in any of its previous wins.
On Sunday, Vanderbilt won the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the match and improve to 4-0 on the season when winning the doubles point. Vanderbilt’s duo of Charlie Jones and Ryan Lipman struck first in the No. 2 position, defeating Radford’s team of Dehaen and Ogrizek, 8-4. Clinching the doubles point for Vanderbilt was Adam Baker and Alex Zotov, who topped Salec and Watson, 8-6, in the No. 1 position.
Leading 1-0, Vanderbilt continued its momentum in singles play by winning three straight matches to clinch the overall match. Vanderbilt’s Alex Zotov moved his win streak to six in dual play when he defeated Michael Johnson, 6-1, 6-1, in the No. 6 position to give Vanderbilt a 2-0 lead in the match.
After losing two straight matches 29th-ranked Ryan Lipman got back on track when he defeated 66th-ranked Ivan Salec, 6-4, 7-5, in the No. 1 position to give VU a 3-0 lead.
Clinching the match for Vanderbilt was Adam Baker, who posted a 6-0, 7-6 win over Erik Finkenbrink.
Also earning wins for Vanderbilt were 53rd-ranked Charlie Jones and Bryant Salcedo. Jones who topped Zack Watson, 6-4, 7-6, in the No 4 position and Salcedo defeated Igor Ogrizek, 6-7, 7-5, 1-0 (10-7).
Vanderbilt will return home for matches against Northwestern at 2 p.m. on Friday and Purdue at noon on Sunday.
