Jan. 19, 2017
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team continues action this weekend, hosting the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and the Lipscomb Bison on Friday at 2 and 5 p.m.
After suffering a hard fought 4-3 loss to No. 13 Northwestern and sweeping Belmont 4-0, the Commodores enter the second weekend of the season 1-1. A pair of local teams will challenge the young Vandy squad this weekend.
“All these teams, Belmont, Lipscomb, MTSU, they always bring their best stuff when they play us,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “I say to our team all the time that the biggest mistake we can make is not preparing for the level of play they’re going to bring here… because they’re going to exceed that.”
Both freshmen Billy Rowe and Panu Virtanen picked up their first Commodore victories last week with Rowe going 2-0 in singles action and Virtanen taking a doubles victory over Northwestern alongside Baker Newman.
Scouting the Blue Raiders:
MT kicked off the 2017 season going 2-0 versus Chattanooga and Tennessee State. Against the Mocs, the Blue Raiders picked up a 7-0 win after clinching the doubles point and taking every singles match in straight sets. In the second match of their Monday doubleheader, MT completed the sweep by knocking off Tennessee State, 6-1. In their last meeting the ‘Dores downed MT 6-1 in Murfreesboro. The last time the Blue Raiders won two points against VU dates back to Feb. 28, 2010.
Surveying the Bison:
Lipscomb travels over to West End for its first match of the season. Throughout the fall tournament season the Commodores suffered two individual losses to Lipscomb, having competed against the Bison in ITA regionals and Vandy’s annual Commodore Scramble. In their last dual match meeting, VU swept the Bison 4-0 in a neutral site meeting in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
For updates and a behind the scenes look at Vandy Men’s Tennis follow @VandyMensTennis on Twitter and Instagram.