April 15, 2015
COLLEGE STATION, Tx. — The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team begins its SEC tournament journey Thursday at 11:00 am CT as the No. 5 seed. The Commodores will be taking on the Auburn Tigers in this single-elimination tournament. With an overall record of 18-6 and home record of 11-1, Vandy owns league upsets over both Mississippi State and Florida.
The ‘Dores defeated Auburn 4-0 in Nashville in their third SEC match of the season. VU takes on AU after the Tiger squad defeatd the Arkansas Razorbacks 4-2 Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t know that they’ll have the same lineup, and our lineup may not be the same either,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “When matchups change it becomes a totally different competition, but the good thing is that virtue of being the No. 5 seed we get the lowest ranked team in the first round. The flipside of that coin is that both of those teams can be good enough to beat us if we’re not ready to play. If we can find a way to get by them, then we get the fourth seed, which is great; I’d love to have another shot at Ole Miss.”
Heading into the tournament the Commodores boast an 8-4 SEC slate, which is the best league record in the 10 seasons that Duvenhage has led the Commodores. With half the league positioned in the ITA top 25 the `Dores look to add statement wins to their record.
Coverage:
For live coverage of all matches, visit the SEC Tournament CentralHERE and be sure to follow @SECMTennis and @VandyMensTEnnis on twitter for behind the scenes tournament action.
SEC Tournament History:
Last season the Commodores hosted the men’s SEC tournament, opening play by sweeping Auburn to take on the then top-seeded Georgia Bulldogs in quarterfinals. The next day the `Dores defeated the Bulldogs for the first time since 2004, ushering them to semifinal play. However VU’s hopes for the tournament title fell after suffering a 4-2 defeat by Florida.
The Commodores have one SEC tournament title to their name, coming after a 4-0 win over Florida in the 2003 tournament in Oxford, Miss. That season, Vanderbilt finished 27-4 and was the runner-up in the NCAA Championship after falling 4-3 to Illinois.
