|
No. 8 Vanderbilt drops neutral-site decision to No. 56 Michigan State, 4-3 2/14/2004
No. 8 Vanderbilt drops neutral-site decision to No. 56 Michigan State, 4-3 COLUMBUS, Ohio — The eighth-ranked Vanderbilt men’s tennis team lost its fourth-straight contest Saturday, falling to No. 56 Michigan State, 4-3, at the Racquet Club of Columbus. The Commodores began the season 5-0, but have since dropped their last four, all to ranked opponents away from Nashville. Vanderbilt could only manage to win one of three doubles matches, and faced an early 1-0 team deficit. Junior Scott Brown and freshman Nathan Sachs teamed up at third doubles to take the lone Commodore win. Seniors Chad Harris and Lew Smith dropped a close match at first doubles, allowing the Spartans to claim the first team point. In singles, junior Matt Lockin, ranked No. 27, earned a straight-set victory at third singles over MSU’s Chris Mitchell. Sachs also claimed a quick victory, winning 6-1, 6-3, at sixth singles. Vanderbilt would fall behind in the match again when they suffered losses at first and fifth singles. Spartan Andrew Formanczyk upset Vanderbilt’s Chad Harris at first singles, while Joseph McWilliams defeated VU sophomore Greg Sossaman at fifth singles. Brown would even the match at three by remaining undefeated for the Dores in the dual-match season with a three-set victory over Cameron Marshall. The match came down to fourth singles, where Vanderbilt’s Smith was battling Michigan State captain Eric Simonton. Smith took the first set, 6-3, but dropped a second-set tiebreaker, 8-6. Simonton would get a break in the third set and close out the match, 6-4. The Commodores return home next weekend to play host to another Big Ten foe, No. 55 Purdue, at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m. CT. No. 56 Michigan State def. No. 8 Vanderbilt, 4-3 Doubles Singles |
