Feb. 18, 2010
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After having last week off from competition, Vanderbilt’s 42nd-ranked men’s tennis team will return to action this week when the Commodores hit the road to face No. 16 Louisville at 2:30 p.m. CT on Friday at the Bass-Rudd Center.
Vanderbilt is 6-2 on the season and has won three straight matches. Louisville is 8-2 on the season. The Cardinals started dual play 7-0 before losing two of its three matches at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
This is the second year in a row Vanderbilt has faced Louisville. Last year, the Cardinals came to Nashville and posted a 4-3 victory after the Commodores had built a 2-0 lead in the match.
Friday will mark Vanderbilt’s fifth match of the season away from home, but only its third true road match after playing two neutral site matches. Vanderbilt is 1-1 in road matches this season with its win coming at No. 47 N.C. State and its loss coming at USC.
The Commodores are led in singles play by juniors Alex Zotov and Adam Baker, who are both undefeated this season. Fellow junior Bryant Salcedo is 7-1 on the season, while freshman Ryan Lipman is 5-2 in the No. 1 position. Vanderbilt is 6-0 this season when it wins the doubles point.
Last week, Lipman became the first Vanderbilt player to earn SEC Freshman of the Week honors since Zotov in 2008 after winning both singles and doubles matches against Northwestern and Purdue. Vanderbilt’s
Louisville has three players ranked in singles play, led by 46th-ranked Austen Childs. Also ranked is No. 81 Andrew Carter and No. 84 Simon Childs. In doubles the duo of Simon and Austen Childs is ranked No. 14, while Alejandro Calligari and Robert Hall are ranked 33rd.
MTSU match moved
Vanderbilt’s Feb. 28 match against Middle Tennessee State has been moved to the Currey Tennis Center after originally being scheduled as a road match. The match will be played at noon on Feb. 28.