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No. 22 VU Men’s Tennis Defeats No. 3 Florida, 5-2
3/6/2004
No. 22 VU Men’s Tennis Defeats No. 3 Florida, 5-2
Commodores win second-straight over Gators
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 22nd-ranked Vanderbilt men’s tennis team opened their Southeastern Conference scheulde with a victory over third-ranked Florida Friday at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center. The Commodores took an early lead by winning the doubles point and then closed out the victory with four points in singles competition.
Senior Chad Harris and Scott Brown combined at first doubles to defeat Florida’s top pair of Hamid Mirzadeh and Chris Brandi, 8-3. After a loss at third doubles, VU rebounded by winning at second doubles to earn the first team point. Senior Zach Dailey teamed up with sophomore Greg Sossaman at second doubles and the pair defeated Gators Vlad Obradovic and Trey Johnson, 8-4.
The singles matches were hotly contested. Vanderbilt would maintain its momentum, however, striking first when junior Matt Lockin posted a win at fourth singles. The 64th-ranked Lockin dropped his first set, 1-6, but came back to win the second and third decisively, 6-3, 6-0.
After a loss at second singles narrowed the Commodore lead to 2-1, VU senior Lew Smith answered by finishing a straight-set win over UF’s Ryan Sherry, 6-2. 6-4. The clinching point for Vanderbilt came from junior Scott Brown, who remained undefeated in dual-match play. The 52nd-ranked Brown took out 46th-ranked Vlad Obradovic in straight-sets, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (0), to give Vanderbilt their first win over a team in the nation’s top five this year.
In the remaining two matches, No. 24 Harris was victorious at first singles while Sossaman was defeated at sixth singles. Harris fought back from losing his first set, 2-6, to take the second set, 6-4. With Harris leading, 5-3, in the decisive set, No. 19 Mirzadeh retired. Sossaman fought another three-set battle on court six, losing in a third-set super-tiebreaker, 10-6.
The Commodores (7-4, 1-0 SEC) will remain at home through the weekend to play host to No. 19 South Carolina on Sunday, March 7 at 1 p.m. CT.
No. 22 Vanderbilt def. No. 3 Florida, 5-2
Doubles
1. Brown/Harris (VU) def. Mirzadeh/Brandi (UF), 8-3
2. Dailey/Sossaman (VU) def. No. 37 Obradovic/Johnson (UF), 8-4
3. Holmia/Stiegwardt (UF) def. Sachs/Smith (VU), 8-5
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2*
Singles
1. No. 24 Chad Harris (VU) def. No. 19 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 2-6, 6-4, 5-3 (ret.)
2. No. 45 Janne Holmia (UF) def. No. 47 Zach Dailey (VU), 6-3, 6-4
3. No. 52 Scott Brown (VU) def. No. 46 Vlad Obradovic (UF), 7-6 (6), 7-6 (0)
4. No. 64 Matt Lockin (VU) def. Chris Brandi (UF), 1-6, 6-3, 6-0
5. Lew Smith (VU) def. Ryan Sherry (UF), 6-2, 6-4
6. Matrin Stiegwardt (UF) def. Greg Sossaman (VU), 0-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6)
Order of finish: 4, 2, 5, 3*, 1, 6
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