March 8, 2012
The No. 49 Vanderbilt Commodores will host the No. 9 Florida Gators and No. 33 South Carolina Gamecocks in a pair of weekend conference matches.
The Dores started the conference slate on the road last weekend with two tough losses to Arkansas and LSU, but hope to do better at home, where they have a 4-3 advantage in matches versus a 1-4 disadvantage at opponents’ courts.
Florida comes in 1-1 in conference play after splitting their opening weekend with a 4-3 win against Tennessee and a 4-3 loss to Georgia, while South Carolina lost two straight to the same two teams to go 0-2 in the SEC’s first weekend.
Vanderbilt will look to their win-leaders, Gonzales Austin and No. 66 Charlie Jones, who each lead the team with 9-3 spring records. Freshman Jeff Offerdahl is in the hunt for his ninth win coming into this weekend. Austin is on a seven win streak, with Offerdahl just behind him with six consecutive wins.
The matches begin Friday against Florida, at 3:30 p.m. CT, and Sunday against South Carolina at one at the Currey Tennis Center.
Match Notes:
#49 Vanderbilt, 5-6
#9 Florida, 8-4
#33 South Carolina, 10-3
Individual Rankings:
#51 Bob Van Overbeek (Florida)
#62 Charlie Jones (Vanderbilt)
#70 Spencer Newman (Florida)
#92 Nick Jones (South Carolina)
Doubles Rankings:
#8 Nassim Slilam-Billy Federhofer (Florida)
#18 Tripper Carleton-Spencer Newman (Florida)
#40 Gonzales Austin-Alex DiValerio (Vanderbilt)
#43 Bob van Overbeek-Andrew Butz (Florida)