Feb. 23, 2012
The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team hosts the Michigan Wolverines this Saturday at 1:00 in the Commodores’ last non-conference match of the 2012 spring season.
The 5-4 Commodores, ranked 43rd by the ITA, were 1-1 last weekend, dropping a close match to No. 37 Memphis before rallying for a 4-3 win over UAB. They boast the No. 66 player in senior Charlie Jones and the No. 45 doubles pair of Gonzales Austin and Blake Bazarnik.
Michigan, 4-4, comes to town as the No. 28 team, with a top-10 singles player (Evan King) and a top-10 doubles pair (King and Shaun Bernstein). The Wolverines seek their first road victory while Vanderbilt looks to hold its 4-1 home advantage.
Vanderbilt snapped a three match Wolverines winning streak in their all-time series last year with a 5-2 decision at Ann Arbor. Michigan still leads the series 6-3.
Jones will once again be looked to as the leader for the Commodores. He extended his winning streak to 12 straight sets with last week’s victory over UAB. Freshman Jeff Offerdahl extended his own winning streak to five straight matches.
The key to the weekend’s match will be the performances of Vanderbilt’s freshmen, particularly Austin, who clinched the match against UAB, battling back from being down match-point to defeat Danny Manlow 4-6, 7-6(9-7), 6-2and extending his winning streak to four matches. He is a mainstay in No. 1 Doubles, where despite having different partners, he has gone 6-1 this season.
The Dores look to finish their non-conference slate on a high note before they head to Arkansas and LSU next week.
Match Notes:
No. 43 Vanderbilt, 5-4
No. 28 Michigan, 4-4
All-time Series; Michigan leads 6-3
Last time they met: Dores won 5-2 at Ann Arbor
Youth factor: Vanderbilt has six freshmen to Michigan’s three
Rankings:
Singles
No. 8 Evan King (Michigan)
No. 66 Charlie Jones (Vanderbilt)
Doubles
No. 10 Evan King/Shaun Bernstein (Michigan)
No. 45 Gonzales Austin/Blake Bazarnik (Vanderbilt)