May 12, 2011
For the second year in a row, the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team will face Virginia Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Commodores, who posted a 13-9 regular season record, earned a two seed in the Knoxville, Tenn. regional.
“The guys are excited about playing Virginia Tech in the first round,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “It’s good to get another shot at the team that beat us in the first round last year.”
Ryan Lipman, who posted a 15-7 record at the No. 1 singles position, led Vanderbilt this spring. In doubles, he paired with Adam Baker for a 9-7 record at the No. 1 spot, while he and Bryant Salcedo posted a 5-1 record to close out the season.
Baker went 10-10 in No. 2 singles matches this spring and won five out of his last seven regular season matches.
“Since the SEC Tournament, the guys are playing very well,” noted Duvenhage. “It helps to get exams and school out of the way so we can just focus on tennis. I feel like everybody is playing the best tennis they’ve played all year.”
Virginia Tech (14-11) advanced to the second round of the ACC Tournament before falling to Duke, 4-0. The Hokies faced 19 ranked teams this season, and defeated eight of those programs. The team is led by Luka Somen, who is ranked 59th in the nation by the ITA. He posted a 16-8 record at No. 1 singles this spring.
The first round match is scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m. CT. Live stats will be available . In the other Knoxville region match, host Tennessee will face Radford at 12 p.m. on Friday. The winner of each match will face each other on Saturday at 2 p.m.