LEXINGTON, Ky. – Winners of three straight matches, Vanderbilt’s 31st-ranked men’s tennis team had its win streak come to an end at the Boone Tennis Complex on Saturday when the Commodores suffered a 7-0 loss at No. 8 Kentucky to close the regular season.
Playing its final of three straight road matches to close the regular season, Vanderbilt (13-9, 5-6 SEC) entered the match one win shy of finishing league play with a winning record for the first time since 2004 (6-5). Despite the loss, Vanderbilt still finished with its best SEC record since that very season. Vanderbilt’s loss at Kentucky (23-7, 8-3 SEC) was its fifth of the season to an opponent currently ranked in the top 10. Four of Vanderbilt’s five losses against top 10 teams came on the road as Vanderbilt finished the regular season with a 3-6 record on the road.
The trip to Lexington was Vanderbilt’s first of two straight. Next week, the Commodores will join its SEC counterparts back in the Bluegrass State for the 2010 SEC Tournament, held April 22-25. A win today would have clinched the No. 6 seed for the Commodores, but now they must wait for the result of the Auburn-Alabama match this afternoon (5 p.m. CT) to see what seed they will receive. An Auburn win will drop Vanderbilt to the No. 7 seed, while an Alabama win will keep Vanderbilt as the No. 6 seed.
Vanderbilt entered the match having won two of its last three against Kentucky, however, the Wildcats ensured they would not go down easily on Saturday by winning the first two completed doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Vanderbilt has lost the doubles point eight times this season and on all eight occasions, it has lost the overall match.
Kentucky would go on and claim the six singles matches to become just the second team this season to shutout the Commodores (Florida). The final score of the match is somewhat deceiving in that four of the six matches did have a set go into a tiebreaker. The Wildcats have now won seven straight matches.
Vanderbilt’s Ryan Lipman and Adam Baker each had their three-match winning streaks come to an end on Saturday.
Vanderbilt will return to the courts on April 22 at the SEC Tournament, which will be played at Kentucky.
