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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After opening the season with a 6-1 win over Tennessee Tech last Wednesday the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team fell to Western Michigan 5-2 on Saturday afternoon.
The Broncos (1-1) swept the doubles contest and followed with three singles wins to come within one point of clinching the match. Vanderbilt (1-1) senior Nathan Sachs countered with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Milan Patercak at No. 3, but Western Michigan’s Kevin Hayward’s third set victory over Vandy freshman Scott Lieberman finalized the Bronco win.
“They were a little better than we were,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Ian Duvenhage said. “I knew it was going to be a tough match. The guys knew Western is a solid team. But we didn’t play as well as we did earlier in the week.”
Nik Cromydas, who played No. 1 singles for the first time in his Commodore career, pulled out a final win for the Commodores. After falling 6-2 in the first set, Cromydas fought through a two-game deficit to split the contest with a 7-5 win.
“Nik hung in there unbelievably well,” Duvenhage said. “We talked earlier about the fact that in these kind of matches you can’t go away. After being down two match points he came back.”
Cromydas flew through the final set, defeating Western Michigan’s Brady Crosby 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
The Commodores will have less than 24 hours to rebound from the loss to face Memphis tomorrow at 1 p.m. in Nashville.
Results
Western Michigan 5 Vanderbilt 2
Singles
1. Nik Cromydas (VU) d. Brady Crosby (WM) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
2. Tim Bradshaw (WM) d. Andy Mack (VU) 6-1, 6-3
3. Nathan Sachs (VU) d. Milan Petercak (WM) 6-1, 6-3
4. Alex Birchmeier (WM) d. Vijay Paul (VU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Kevin Hayward (WM) d. Scott Lieberman (VU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
6. Bryan Norville (WM) d. James Moye (VU) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)
Order of finish: 4, 3, 2, 5, 1, 6
Doubles
1. Crosby/Bradshaw (WM) d. Cromydas/Paul 8-3
2. Birchmeier/Norville (WM) d. Mack/Sachs (VU) 8-3
3. Hayward/Staub (WM) d. Lieberman/Moye (VU) 8-6
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
