KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt men’s tennis team continued competing in the 2015 USTA/ITA Regional Championships all day Friday, VU’s Ryan Smith and Daniel Valent both remain in singles competition with three tournaments wins under their belts. Vanderbilt was eliminated in doubles, falling in main draw matches.
“I thought it was not a bad day, results wise it wasn’t great. I think we were like 6-6, but I thought we played good tennis,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “We were unfortunate in some places not to get the “W”. We’re definitely not firing on all cylinders, but you know I think all in all I’m encouraged by a lot of things I’m seeing.”
VU’s sophomore duo of Tate Allwardt and Daniel Valent made it furthest out of the three Commodore doubles teams, getting to the Round of 16, but falling to Ball State’s ninth-seeded Andersen/Stutz; 8-5. Top-seeded Rhys Johnson and Pen Binet took on the Kentucky Wildcats’ Ellefsen/Yates in a close and competitive match, but lost 8-6.
“In doubles Ryan (Smith) and Baker (Newman) played a good match and were serving for the match at 7-6 and played a bad game and that cost them.”
While the ‘Dores may be done in regional doubles, Smith and Valent both won challenging matches to advance to the round of 16 in singles. After dropping the first set 6-4, Weston, Fla. native, Ryan Smith, defeated BSU’s Stutz 6-4, 6-1 to win in three sets.
Valent faced Dayton’s Fisher in Friday’s round of 32, beating the Flyer in a close 7-5, 6-4 victory. On Saturday Valent is set to play Louisville’s Gornet, while Smith looks forward to taking on TTU’s Mena.
In the first round of consolation singles action, freshman Vikram Chari won his first collegiate match, defeating Rollhauser of Dayton; 6-2, 7-5. Johnson battled Louisville’s Tsao, coming out on top with a commanding 6-2, 6-4 victory for the junior.
“Oen (Binet) played a good singles match, and lost in the match tiebreaker. Baker played a really good match, and was up a set and a break against Peniston from Memphis and then unfortunately played a few bad points, and then cramped up in the third set so that was a shame. Kris Yee unfortunately lost in three sets to a guy who just outplayed him, and that’s part of the game. Danny (Valent) played well and did a great job, and Ryan Smith played well; both are headed to the round of 16 tomorrow. ”
Vanderbilt resumes main draw and consolation singles action tomorrow at 8:00 am CT. For tournament updates and scored follow @ITAOhioValley on Twitter.
