NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt’s 28th-ranked men’s tennis team moved its record over the .500 mark for the first time this young season with a convincing 7-0 win over in-state rival Memphis on Friday at the Currey Tennis Center.
“I am happy with the win,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Ian Duvenhage said. “I felt we were the better team, but I knew if we didn’t take care of business, (Memphis) is good enough to beat us. If you would have said to me before the match that it would have been 7-0, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
Vanderbilt (3-2) swept all three doubles matches and never looked back en route to its first 7-0 sweep since Feb. 2, 2008 against Samford. With the loss, the Tigers fell to 4-2 on the season.
The win marked the first time Vanderbilt won a match by a score besides 4-3 since March 4, 2008 when the Commodores won 6-1 at Northwestern. Vanderbilt’s previous seven wins had been by a one-point margin.
The Commodores took the upper hand from the start by winning all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match. It marked the first time this season the Commodores swept the doubles matches. However, the wins did not come easily, with the final two matches decided in tiebreakers.
Vanderbilt took an early advantage in doubles when Nick Cromydas and Bryant Salcedo defeated Memphis’ duo of Jordan Smith and Benedikt Fischer, 8-4, in the No. 2 position. The win pushed the duo’s record to 2-3 this spring.
Neither team could gain much of an advantage in the remaining two doubles matches. In the No. 1 position, Vanderbilt’s 32nd-ranked team of Adam Baker and Alex Zotov battled back and forth with Memphis’ tandem of Jorge Vazquez and Spencer Heflin before prevailing, 9-8 (8-6), to clinch the doubles point. The win pushed the duo’s record to 12-4 this season and 4-0 in dual play.
Seconds after Baker and Zotov clinched the doubles point, Vanderbilt’s team of Alex DiValerio and Charlie Jones put the finishing touches on a 9-8 (13-11) win over the Tigers’ team of Leon Nasemann and Charlie Ramsay in the No. 3 position. The freshmen duo earned the win after fending off four match points.
Vanderbilt carried its momentum over from doubles play, taking all six singles matches to clinch the overall match.
The Commodores took a 2-0 lead in the match when Adam Baker earned his third straight win in the No. 4 position by defeating Memphis’ Charlie Ramsay, 6-3, 6-1.
Vanderbilt extended its lead to 3-0 when Bryant Salcedo picked up a 6-1, 6-1 win over Memphis’ Leon Nasemann in the No. 2 slot. The win was Salcedo’s second in a row, as he moved his record to 11-8 on the year.
Clinching the match for the first time this season was junior Vijay Paul in the No. 3 slot. Paul posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over Memphis’ Jordan Smith to move to 6-7 overall and 3-2 in dual play.
Vanderbilt built a 5-0 lead in the match when Charlie Jones moved his dual record to 4-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over the Tigers’ Benedikt Fischer in the No. 5 position. Jones trailed 3-2 in the first set, but that would be the last time during the match.
Senior Nick Cromydas pushed Vanderbilt’s lead to 6-0 when he came from one set down to defeat No. 102 Jorge Vazquez of Memphis in the No. 1 position. Cromydas dropped the first set, 6-1, before turning up the heat in the second set, which he won, 7-6 (7-2) in a tiebreaker. With the overall match already clinched, Cromydas and Vazquez played a 10-point tiebreaker to determine the winner, which Cromydas won 11-9.
Alex DiValerio finished off the sweep of the Tigers with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Memphis’ Michael Hayes in the No. 6 position.
Vanderbilt will return to the courts Saturday when Middle Tennessee State makes the short drive up I-24 to face the Commodores at 12 p.m. at the Currey Tennis Center.
