KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – After falling into a 3-1 deficit to the Tennessee Volunteers, the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team dug deep to win out the remainder of their matches and seal their third consecutive victory over Tennessee; 4-3.
“You know, we talked about the fact that we needed to turn our season around, so I think we’re not quite there yet. But this weekend is a huge step in the right direction. I’m particularly happy with Danny (Valent) who has been struggling, and for him to come trough and win in the clincher like he did was terrific. Cam (Klinger) did another great job. Rhys (Johnson) did a great job getting off the court quickly. And I’m glad to see Kris getting back on the winning side of things.”
The match was the second 4-3 victory for the Dores this weekend, having just defeated No. 17 Kentucky by the same score on Friday. With the 2-0 record on the weekend, the Commodores improve to 11-8 overall, and 2-2 in conference action.
Having started the match outside, enduring a rain delay, then moving and regrouping inside; the Commodores rose out of several forms of adversity Sunday afternoon in Knoxville.
“It was a very very special effort we made today,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “We were in a bad place and down 2-1 when it started raining and in trouble on Alex Ross’ court. So, once we went inside Alex lost and we were down 3-1. At that point we knew to have a chance we needed to win three matches in three sets.”
A doubles loss was the first hardship the Commodores would have to overcome. UT’s Preston Touliatos/Jack Heslin earned the first win of the contest over No. 76 Pen Binet and Daniel Valent, 6-2. Commodores on court three quickly avenged the loss, with Tate Allwardt and Baker Newman serving a 6-2 loss to the Vols.
With tandems tied, the advantageous point fell to court one. Rhys Johnson and Cameron Klinger faced No. 20 Valero/Schipanski, but the Vols battled back from a 4-2 deficit to clinch the point, 6-4.
“It wasn’t a perfect effort, we didn’t play real well in doubles today, which was surprising because we’ve been playing well. But we’ve found a way, two matches in a row, to get it done on the road.”
Down one point, Johnson, a senior, quickly tied the match up with a commanding performance on court two. The Perth, Australia native improved his SEC record to 3-1 with a 6-4 6-0 win over Timo Stodder.
Following the victory, Commodores on courts four and six fell to give the Vols a 3-1 lead. Looking to win out, Vanderbilt forced third sets on courts one and three to keep the squad’s hopes alive.
Klinger, a freshman out of San Jose, Calif., saved the match for VU as he pulled out his third set in a close 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory. The win was Klinger’s 15 this season (15-4), as he remains undefeated on court three, going 5-0 overall and 2-0 in league action.
Using his second set loss as motivation, Kris Yee powered through the third keeping the Dores alive, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. The senior leveled the score to 3-all for the black and gold, and sits just one victory away from his 80th career win.
With the match dependent on Valent, attention turned to court one as the 54th-ranked sophomore held then broke serve for the 5-4 third set lead. Serving for the match, and with his teammates on court cheering him on, the Zurich, Switzerland native came out on top of a powerful game to clinch the Commodore victory.
“He (Valent) played a very tentative doubles match, and I spoke to him following the match and I said look ‘We’ve got to take our shots aggressively and hit the ball with conviction, and even if we miss we’re just a few shots from turning it around.’ He started singles the same, tentatively, but he realized at some point that he wasn’t going to win that way,he had to be aggressive and go for shots. Once he started going in, his confidence turned around. The way he won the match was superb; breaking at 4-4 and then the way he held, he was playing aggressive. The lesson to our hole team is that you don’t back into great accomplishments, you have to play aggressively and go for your shots.”
The Commodores return home this weekend, hosting the Texas A&M Aggies Friday and the LSU Tigers next Sunday.
