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Dores Stun Yellow Jackets, Face Gators in 2nd Rd. 5/14/2005 The No. 38 Vanderbilt men’s tennis team edged No. 28 Georgia Tech in the Opening Round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament, 4-3 in Gainesville, Fla. “It so exciting,” said Interim Head Coach Eddie Coates. “It was a great all around match. It was fun to coach, fun to watch, and for the guys it was fun to play. That is what the NCAA tournament is all about. We showed maturity with the way we played after the tough doubles loss. They refused to lose and just battled back. We are a different team now. The seniors got big wins and the young guys fought hard.” In the doubles draw, the Dores dropped the matchup at the No. 2 position, but evened showdown with Scott Brown and Jason Pinsky’s win at No. 1. In the decisive doubles point match, VU’s Matt Lockin and Ryan Preston fell in a tiebreaker to their opponents, 9-8 (5). Coates’ squad needed four wins in the singles draw to claim the match. The Yellow Jackets pushed their advantage to 2-0 with Zachary Rath’s “W” at the No. 5 position over Nathan Sachs, 6-1, 7-5. VU senior Lockin got on the board with his straight set victory at the third position. The Lilburn, Ga. native dropped Marko Rejevac in convincing fashion, 6-3, 6-3. Vanderbilt’s Preston knotted the match at 2-2 with his 18th win of the year over Sukhwa Young at No. 4. Preston took the showdown, 7-5, 6-3. The Ramblin’ Wreck reclaimed the lead at 3-2 with their showing at No. 6. Tech’s Jordan Delass outlasted VU’s Evan Dufaux, 6-2, 7-5. VU’s Brown then brought the Dores to within one point of victory with his three-set thriller at the top slot. Vanderbilt’s all-time winningest player tripped GT’s Jose Luis Muguruz, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. All eyes turned to the decisive match at No. 2 which featured VU rookie Pinsky and Tech’s David North. North blanked Pinsky in the first frame, 6-0. The Potomac, Md. native fought back to claim an intense second set tiebreak, 7-6 (2). In the third, Pinsky broke North to go up 5-4 and then on his third match point of the day, sent the Commodores in the NCAA Second Round. “Jason played to win and just stepped up to his shots,” said Coates. “Today we earned another shot at Florida. We want to show them we are a different team. I told the guys that the pressure is on them. We are going to play and see what happens.” The Commodores take on Florida in the Regional Championship Match at Noon on Sunday. Check out www.gatorzone.com for live stats. Doubles |
