April 11, 2013
NASHVILLE – Coming off a win over eighth-ranked Kentucky last Saturday, the 13th-ranked Commodores will look to finish off the SEC regular season with wins at No. 22 South Carolina Friday, April 12 at 4 p.m. CT and at No. 17 Florida on Sunday, April 14 at 1 p.m.
Last Time Out
No. 13 Vanderbilt took down No. 8 Kentucky, 4-2, Saturday afternoon in the 2012-13 home finale at the Currey Tennis Center. The Commodores (15-7, 6-4) finished the home portion of the schedule for the 2012-13 season with a record of 11-3. After dropping the doubles point, Gonzales Austin started the comeback rally with a three-set win over No. 24 Tom Jomby, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Despite dropping the first set, Austin controlled the match in sets two and third. The Commodores tied the match at 2 after Kris Yee defeated Kevin Lai, 7-5, 6-4. In No. 1 singles, a pair of top 20 players battled for three sets. Ryan Lipman came back to win the second and third sets (3-6, 6-4, 6-1) after dropping the first to No. 18 Anthony Rossi. Lipman is now an impressive 28-7 overall and 18-3 in dual play. Leading 3-2, the Commodores looked to freshman Marc van der Merwe to bring home the win, and the Stellenbosch, South Africa, native would not disappoint. After dropping the first set to Grant Roberts, 4-6, van der Merwe took control the rest of the match, winning 6-2, 6-3.
Vanderbilt Notables
- Lipman leads Vanderbilt with 28 wins this season and has won 16 of his last 18 matches in singles play.
- Lipman is 8-3 this season versus ranked players and 18-3 in dual play (8-2 in the SEC).
- Yee ranks second on the team with 23 wins on the season.
- Yee also leads the team with a 18-2 record in dual play this season.
- Three Commodores (Austin, Lipman and Yee) have at least 20 wins on the season in singles.
- Lipman and Austin are ranked Nos. 10 and 46 in the ITA Singles Rankings.
- Lipman is the first Commodore to be ranked in the top 10 since 2003 when Bobby Reynolds was ranked No. 1.
- Vanderbilt is one of 13 schools that have both their men’s and women’s programs ranked inside the top 25.
About No. 22 South Carolina (15-9, 5-5)
The Gamecocks played a combined seven three-set matches at Mississippi State and Ole Miss, keeping both top-15 programs on the ropes throughout. Juniors Chip Cox and Tsvetan Mihov opened both road matches with strong play at the top of the doubles lineup, including their third win over a top-15 opponent to improve to 11-8 on the season and 4-5 in SEC action. The newly formed doubles team of Andrew Adams and Thiago Pinheiro continued to click for the Gamecocks with a pair of wins to clinch the doubles point for South Carolina. Mihov is currently ranked No. 67, while Adams comes in at No. 102. In doubles, the Gamecocks have two doubles teams ranked led by Cox and Mihov at No. 18. Kyle Koch and Harry Menzies are the 84th ranked doubles team.
About No. 17 Florida (12-9, 5-5)
Florida split its weekend matches once again. On Friday, the Gators traveled to Ole Miss and upset the seventh-ranked Rebels, 4-1. After winning the doubles point, Florent Diep clinched the match with a three-set win over William Kallberg. Bob van Overbeek and Gordon Watson also earned singles wins for UF in Oxford. On Sunday, Florida hosted No. 13 Mississippi State in a tight battle. The Bulldogs won the doubles point, but the Gators stormed back with singles wins from Diep, van Overbeek and Mike Alford to take a 3- 1 lead. MSU pulled through in the end, winning the final three matches to earn a 4-3 victory over UF. The Gators are led in doubles by the 35th-ranked duo of van Overbeek and Stephane Piro and the 51st-ranked pair of Watson and Billy Federhofer. Diep is ranked No. 85 in singles, while van Overbeek and Piro come in at Nos. 117 and 118, respectively.
Live Scoring
Fans can follow the action with live scoring available here for the South Carolina match and the Florida match here. Also be sure to follow the Commodores on Twitter at @VandyMensTennis.
Up Next
Vanderbilt will compete in the SEC Championships April 17-20 hosted by the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss.