NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team nearly topped the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers, falling to the reigning national champions in a spirited 4-3 decision.
“I thought we did a terrific job,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “They’re No. 1 in the country and defending NCAA National Champions and favorites to repeat and we barely lost to them 4-3. Our guys are disappointed, and I like that because it will keep us hungry.”
The Commodores began the competition by securing the doubles point in front of a roaring crowd Friday night at the Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center.
Vandy’s first win of the night came in a dominant match on court one, as Cameron Klinger and Pen Binet defeated UVA’s Carl Soderlund and Luca Corinteli, 6-2. Virginia leveled the competition as Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Collin Altamairano defeated Panu Virtanen and Baker Newman 6-3 on court two.
With the paramount point hanging in the balance, the ‘Dores clinched the 1-0 advantage as Billy Rowe and Lachlan McPhee pulled through a tough match against J.C. Aragone and Henrik Wiersholm, 6-4.
“I thought in doubles that was our most complete effort. We came out and were ready to play from the get-go. I like where our doubles teams are right now.”
UVA tied the match at 1-1 with Alex Ritschard’s 6-2, 6-1 win over Rowe on court four.
Utilizing the entire court and making his opponent, No. 58 Aragone, work for every point, Newman earned his first ranked win of the year, 6-4, 6-0 to give VU the 2-1 lead. However, Virginia came back to tie the match once more, as Soderlund downed McPhee 6-1, 6-4 on court four.
In what was the most spirited match of the day, Klinger downed two-time All-American and 2016 NCAA tournament MVP, No. 39 Kwiatkowski for a win that the sophomore will not soon forget. Klinger took seven straight games over the Cavalier, who then forced a third set. The Commodore then gave VU the 3-2 team advantage with a win over the former No. 1 player in the country, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4.
With Virtanen down a set and battling down 3-0 on court five, the ‘Dores looked to Valent to fight through a second-set tiebreaker on court one and force a third set. While the junior played with determination, UVA’s Altamirano tied the match for the last time with a 7-5, 7-6(2) win.
Wiersholm clinched UVA’s season-opener with a win over Virtanen moments later, 6-2, 6-1.
“There are probably over a hundred positives and just two or three negatives from this match. We’ve got to execute with more discipline. In some places we’re executing well and not giving our opponents cheap points, but not everywhere. I’m really proud of Baker and Cam, they set the example of how to execute with discipline. I’m proud of the way we handled ourselves against really good players.”
The Commodores look to their next two competitions, hosting Western Michigan at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Texas Tech at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
