May 12, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team makes its 15th appearance in the NCAA tournament Friday, May 13th at 12:00 pm CT in Los Angeles, California. Vandy begins the 2016 tournament against San Diego at UCLA’s Sunset Recreation Tennis Courts.
Teams that advance through NCAA Regional play will earn a spot in the NCAA Round of 16 in Tulsa, Okla., where teams will compete for the national championship May 20-24. The University of Tulsa will plat host to this season’s NCAA tournament.
“This is what you work for all year long, to play in the NCAAs,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “Obviously, I think the kids are excited to go to California. We get to face an opponent that we’ve played before and that we’ve lost to, which I think helps us psychologically because we’ve got something to prove. We’ve played our best tennis here at the end of the year, so we’re looking to continue that.”
While first serve may be bright and early in Cali., the No. 34 Commodores will be ready to compete with a chip on their shoulder. In the first round of the single elimination tournament, VU faces a strong 28th-ranked San Diego Torero team which handed the `Dores their first loss of the season.
However since the loss, Vandy’s secured four top-25 victories and clinched four 4-3 SEC victories. The Commodores have played their best tennis late in the season, knocking off four-straight in No. 23 Mississippi State, Lipscomb, No. 34 Alabama and No. 33 LSU before falling to SEC tournament champion Florida in quarterfinal play.
Tracking the Toreros:
USD owns a 23-7 record heading into NCAAs and compiled a perfect 9-0-conference slate against West Coast Conference teams. The Toreros earned their third-straight WCC title after sweeping the No. 61 Pepperdine Waves on April 30th.
Rankings:
Vanderbilt currently has one ranked doubles team in No. 7 Rhys Johnon/Cameron Klinger and two ranked singles players in No. 36 Daniel Valent and No. 84 Klinger.
USD boasts two singles players in the latest ITA rankings, No. 65 Petronijevic and No. 71 Angus. In doubles, the Torers field a ranked team in No. 40 Vittek/Angus.