NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 49 Vanderbilt Commodores earned their first conference win of the season, defeating the No. 33 South Carolina Gamecocks 4-3 on Sunday afternoon.
“We needed to get in the “W” column,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “I thought we kind of let the doubles point slip, but I really loved how we came out in singles. Everybody was ready to play. We’ve got to do that every match.”
Neither team had a conference win coming into today’s match.
The Dores dropped the doubles point to fall behind early, but Jeff Offerdahl’s quick 6-4, 6-1 win tied the match at 1-1. Charlie Jones put the Dores up 2-1, beating #92 Nick Jones 6-2, 6-1, before Joe Dorn made it 3-1 Vanderbilt as he beat Carl Eguez 7-5, 6-2.
Austin came back to tie his second set 5-5 and battled for the point, going up 6-5 as Andrew Adams hit a shot wide right of the court. He and Adams traded advantage several times before besting Adams for a 7-5 second set, clinching the match in the process.
“AJ is a warrior, he finds ways to win,” said teammate Ryan Lipman. “He has that ‘it’ factor that you can’t teach and it’s impressive to watch.”
The Commodores split matches home and away in two weekends, hosting a match against Alabama on Friday, March 23rd before traveling to Auburn on Sunday the 25th.
Results
Singles:
1. #62 Charlie Jones (VU) def. #92 Nick Jones (USC)6-2, 6-1
2. Gonzales Austin (VU def. Andrew Adams (USC) 6-1, 7-5 *
3. Ivan Machado (USC) def. Blake Bazarnik (VU) 6-7, 6-2, 6-2
4. Jeff Offerdahl (VU) def. Chip Cox (USC) 6-4, 6-1
5. Thiago Pinheiro (USC) def. Anton Kovrigin (VU) 7-6, 6-2
6. Joe Dorn (VU) vs. Carl Eguez (USC) 7-5, 6-2
Doubles:
1. Cox-Jones (USC) def. Bazarnik-Austin (VU) 8-3
2. DiValerio-Dorn (USC) def. Machado-Pinheiro (USC) 8-6
3. Koch-Eguez (USC) def. Jones-Offerdahl (VU) 8-5
Match Notes:
#49 Vanderbilt, 5-6 (0-3)
#33 South Carolina, 10-3(0-3)
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2,3) Singles: (4,1,6,2,5,3)
