NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team opened up the 2015-16 season on a strong note, going undefeated and beating both the Furman University Paladins and the Lipscomb Bisons; 4-0.
“It was a good day for us,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “You know I thought against Furman, I thought they (Furman) played extremely well and it makes since; their coach was ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles so you’d think he should be able to coach them good doubles. I thought we did a really good job there winning the doubles point. But we made some mistakes at two doubles. We had two match points and served for the match, but I still thought that we played pretty well.”
The Commodores went undefeated on the doubles point, with Klinger and senior Rhys Johnson going undefeated on the season, pulling out the first match 7-6(3), and dominating the second 6-2 against the Bisons.
“In singles I thought we did a great job at getting quick starts and getting ahead of them and taking them out of the match. The match against Lipscomb was almost the opposite of our match against Furman, because the doubles was a lot easier. We got a head of them and sort of ran the table. Singles was a lot tougher.”
In singles action, the Commodores walked away from the day with three 6-0 sets, one against Furman and the other two against Lipscomb. Several of the Commodores played debuted in new lineup spots. Impressively freshman Cameron Klinger made his spring debut for the Dores, going undefeated at No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles.
“I liked what I saw from our guys. I thought there were a lot of positives, and there are some things that we’re going to need to address and get better at, but I thought for a start I thought it was good.”
Next week the Commodores travel to Durham, N.C. for the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Dores will faceoff against No. 13 Duke, No. 21 Cal and No. 22 San Diego. Winner advances to Team National Indoors in Charlottesville, Va.
RESULTS:
Vanderbilt 4, Furman 0
Doubles
1) Rhys Johnson/Cameron Klinger (Vandy) def. Cameron Green (Furman); 7-6(3)
2) Matt Browne/Ben Horst (Furman) def. Baker Newman/Danny Valent (Vandy); 7-6(6)
3) Ryan Smith/Pen Binet (Vandy) def.Stefan Rhodes/Alex Steryous (Furman); 7-5
Finishes: 3, 2, 1*
Singles
1) Daniel Valent (Vandy) def. Adam Steryous (Furman); 6-1, 6-2
2) Rhys Johnson (Vandy) def.Matt Browne (Furman); 6-4, 6-4
3) Cameron Klinger (Vandy) def. Cameron Green (Furman); 6-0, 7-6(4)
4) Baker Newman (Vandy) def. Ben Horst (Furman); 6-1, 6-1
5) Kris Yee (Vandy) def. Josh Pistorius (Furman); 6-2, 6-3.
6) Ryan Smith (Vandy) vs. Alex Steryous (Furman); 7-5
Finishes: 4, 1, 2*, 5, 6
-Played out two of three remaining matches
Vanderbilt 4, Lipscomb 0
Doubles:
1) Cameron Klinger/ Rhys Johnson (Vandy) def. Alejandro Manzanres/Philippe Courteau (LIP); 6-2
2) Ryan Smith/Pen Binet (Vandy) def. Daniel Cardenas/Rob Mitchell (LIP); 6-2
3) Baker Newman/Daniel Valent (Vandy) led. Thias Minet/John Tougher (LIP); 5-3
Finish: 2,1*
Singles:
1) No. 64 Daniel Valent (Vandy) led Rob Mitchell (LIP); 6-3, 5-3
2) Rhys Johnson (Vandy) def. Alejandro Manzanares (LIP); 6-3, 6-4
3) Baker Newman (Vandy) def. Philipe Courteau (LIP); 6-0, 6-2
4) Cameron Klinger (Vandy) led Daniel Cardenas (LIP); 6-4, 5-3
5) Kris Yee (Vandy) def. Thias Minet (LIP); 6-3, 6-0
6) Alex Ross (Vandy) vs. John Tougher (LIP); Not Started
Finish: 3, 5, 2*
