GAINESVILLE, Fla. – It came down to a tiebreaking set in Gainesville, Fla., but the No. 41 Vanderbilt men’s tennis team was edged 4-3 by the No. 18 Gators, marking VU’s seventh conference loss.
The Commodores (8-11, 2-7) jumped out to an early 2-1 lead by taking the doubles point and a singles win by junior Evan Dufaux. Vijay Paul earned the second Commodore win, tying the match at 3-3, where Andy Mack dropped a third set thriller to UF’s Jordan Dolberg to clinch the Gator win.
After playing top-ranked John Isner of Georgia less than a week ago, Vandy’s Ryan Preston had to face No. 4 Jesse Levine at the top of the Gator lineup. Preston was unable to pull a set win and fell 6-1, 6-2 for the first Commodore loss of the night.
Evan Dufaux earned his third conference win of the season with a straight set victory over Nestor Briceno at No. 3. Vijay Paul improved his overall record to 11-7 and 6-3 in the SEC with his win over Billy Mulligan.
James Moye played his second SEC singles contest of the season and rallied after falling 6-1 to win five games in the second set. UF’s Geoffrey Barton edged Moye 7-5 to take the win.
The Commodores will play their last regular season road match against on Sunday against South Carolina at 1 p.m. CST.
DOUBLES
1. Ouellette/Levine (UF) d. Preston/Paul (VU) 8-4
2. Cromydas/Dufaux (VU) d. Cash/Mulligan (UF) 8-1
3. Mack/Magarik (VU) d. Briceno/Barton (UF) 8-6
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3*
SINGLES
1. #4 Jesse Levine (UF) d. #46 Ryan Preston (VU) 6-1, 6-2
2. #10 Greg Ouellette (UF) d. Nik Cromydas (VU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Evan Dufaux (VU) d. Nestor Briceno (UF) 6-3, 6-3
4. Vijay Paul (VU) d. Billy Mulligan (UF) 6-4, 7-5
5. Jordan Dolberg (UF) d. Andy Mack (VU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
6. Geoffrey Barton (UF) d. James Moye (VU) 6-1, 7-5
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 6, 4, 5*
