NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team fought No. 22 Tennessee through three tiebreaker sets, but was unable to notch a third consecutive upset against the Volunteers and fell 6-1 in Nashville.
Vanderbilt (7-9, 2-5) earned the first match win of the afternoon when Nik Cromydas and Evan Dufaux defeated Bobby Cameron and Davey Sandgren 8-2. The Volunteers (13-4, 5-2) fought back with two wins to take the point and a lead, which they held through the rest of the contest.
Senior Andy Mack earned Vandy’s only point in the 6-1 loss, defeating UT’s Christopher Racz in two sets (7-5, 6-4). Mack is now 8-5 for the season and 4-3 in SEC contests.
Volunteer wins at Nos. 2 and 4 put Tennessee within one of clinching the match.
After falling 6-3 in his first set with Kirli Tcherveniachki, VU’s Nathan Sachs shut the Australian native down 6-2 in the second. Tcherveniahcki recovered with a 6-1 win in the third set to clinch the Volunteer win.
Ryan Preston and Vijay Paul looked like they might add extra points to Vandy’s final score, but both couldn’t hold on through final sets.
The Commodores will have to make a quick turnaround to ready themselves for No. 1 Georgia on Sunday. The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Currey Tennis Center.
RESULTS
Tennessee 6, Vanderbilt 1
DOUBLES
1. Hubble/Rogers (UT) d. Paul/Preston (VU) 8-5
2. Cromydas/Dufaux (VU) d. Cameron/Sandgren (UT) 8-2
3. Hensel/Tcherveniachki (UT) d. Mack/Magarik (VU) 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1*
SINGLES
1. #36 Kaden Hensel (UT) d. #63 Ryan Preston (VU) 6-1, 6-7, 6-2
2. #29 Bobby Cameron (UT) d. #125 Nik Cromydas (VU) 6-2, 6-4
3. #120 Davey Sandgren (UT) d. Vijay Paul (VU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
4. Ben Rogers (UT) d. Evan Dufaux (VU) 6-3, 6-0
5. Kirli Tcherveniachki (UT) d. Nathan Sachs (VU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
6. Andy Mack (VU) d. Christopher Racz (UT) 7-5, 6-4
Order of finish: 4, 2, 5*, 6, 1, 3
