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No. 13 VU Men’s Tennis Defeats No. 24 Arkansas, 7-0 3/19/2004
No. 13 VU Men’s Tennis Defeats No. 24 Arkansas, 7-0 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 13th-ranked Vanderbilt men’s tennis earned a 7-0 shutout of Southeastern Conference rival and 24th-ranked Arkansas at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center Friday. The Commodore victory avenges one of only four losses from the 2003 campaign which saw Vanderbilt advance to the national championship match. The Commodores cruised to the first team point by taking all three doubles lines by the same 8-4 tally. Senior Chad Harris and junior Scott Brown, playing at first doubles, were the first to finish. They were followed by the 23rd-ranked pairing of senior Zach Dailey and sophomore Greg Sossaman, whose win at second doubles clinched the point for VU. Senior Lew Smith and freshman Nathan Sachs finished the sweep of doubles on court three. In singles, the Commodores kept the pressure on by winning all six first sets. Vanderbilt would close the match out by winning in straight sets on four courts, and then finish the sweep by taking a pair of super-tiebreaker third sets. Junior Matt Lockin gave Vanderbitl a 2-0 lead by defeating Rohan Gajjar at fourth singles, 6-2, 6-2. Harris, the nation’s 16th-ranked player, then beat eighth-ranked Adrian Zguns in convincing fashion, 6-2, 6-1, to avenge a loss in the consolation round of the ITA National Indoor Championships in December. Dailey clinched the conference victory for Vanderbilt at third singles with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Matt Simpson. Sossaman put VU’s fifth point on the board with a straight-set victory over Imraan Ismail at sixth singles, 6-4, 6-3. Both Brown and Smith would drop their second sets, 4-6, and with the match already decided both were forced, by rule, to play super-tiebreakers (first to 10, by two) in lieu of third sets. Smith battled back and forth with UA’s Matt Roberts before taking his tiebreaker, 10-8. Brown trailed, 6-8, in his tiebreaker, before rallying to an 11-9 victory to solidify the Vanderbilt sweep. The Commodores (9-5, 3-1 in the SEC) earned their fifth shutout victory of the season. They will return to action Sunday, March 21, when No. 14 LSU visits the Currey Tennis Center for a 1 p.m. CT match. No. 13 Vanderbilt def. No. 24 Arkansas, 7-0 |
