Feb. 1, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Coming off a 4-3 season-opening win over No. 64 Michigan State last Sunday, the No. 33 Vanderbilt men’s tennis team returns to the courts this weekend for a pair of home matches against Samford and Memphis at the Currey Tennis Center.
Vanderbilt (1-0) will host Samford (0-2) on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Memphis (2-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“This weekend represents a great opportunity for our team to continue to improve,” Vanderbilt head coach Ian Duvenhage said. “Samford and Memphis will test us and we’ll have to perform at the top of our games.”
The Commodores enter the match after posting a come-from-behind win over the Spartans after trailing 3-2 in the match. Vanderbilt was able to secure the match by winning the Nos. 5 and 6 singles matches.
Freshman Alex Zotov earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Tuesday for his performance against MSU. In the match, Zotov clinched the Commodores’ victory by rallying to defeat MSU’s Tyler Sauerbrey 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 after a win by Vanderbilt’s Evan Dufaux in the No. 5 position knotted the score at three.
Samford enters Saturday’s match 0-2 for the first time since the 2003-04 season. The Bulldogs are coming off a 6-1 loss at No. 36 Miami on Jan. 25. Samford’s other loss was a 5-2 setback at Florida Atlantic.
Memphis is coming off a 4-3 loss to Southeastern Louisiana on Jan. 31, its first loss of the season. The Tigers opened the season with victories over Austin Peay and Tenneessee-Martin. Last season, Vanderbilt defeated Memphis 6-1.
Live stats will be available on vucommodores.com throughout both matches. Complete results will be made available on vucommodores.com at the conclusion of play.