March 31, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 43 Vanderbilt men’s tennis team continues SEC this weekend, traveling south to take on the No. 11 Florida Gators Friday, April 1st at 5:00 pm CT and the 55th-ranked Auburn Tigers Sunday at 1:00 pm CT.
The Commodores went 1-1 last weekend, knocking off No. 7 Texas A&M in a huge 4-3 upset. Cameron Klinger clinched the Commodores’ first top-10 win of the season, and first since 2013. Last Sunday, the ‘Dores fell 5-2 to the LSU Tigers, but improved six spots in this week’s Oracle/ITA rankings.
Individually, Daniel Valet and Klinger own spots in the polls, ranked 67th and 92nd respectively. In tandems, Klinger teams up with Rhys Johnson as the No. 33 team in the country. The duo owns a 14-4 record together, with three top-25 victories in their repertoire.
Both Florida and Auburn field ranked doubles teams themselves, with the Gators’ boasting the No. 1 team in the country, Gordon Watson and Diego Hidalgo. UF also has four ranked singles players on this season’s roster. The Tigers’ Marko Krickovic and Edward Nguyen lead the squad at No. 74.
Last season, Vanderbilt upset Florida, 4-3, at home in its SEC opener with a huge clinch by Baker Newman. In their last meeting with the Tigers, the Commodores downed AU 4-2 to advance the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament.