AUBURN, Ala. — Vanderbilt men’s tennis opened its season at the Auburn Fall Invitational and combined for 13 wins against Clemson, Miami (Fla.) and the host Tigers over the weekend.
“I was very happy with our doubles play this weekend,” head coach Ian Duvenhage said. “And while we got better each day in singles and actually played pretty well Sunday against Miami our execution in singles play has to improve and become more consistent.”
In all, Vanderbilt won five doubles matches and eight singles matches. Senior George Harwell, who was ranked No. 43 in the preseason ITA singles rankings, won two matches with his only defeat to 19th-ranked Tyler Stice of Auburn. Meanwhile, Joubert Klopper won two singles and two doubles matches, Macsen Sisam won a pair of singles matches, and the duo of Michael Ross and Marcus Ferriera won twice in doubles.
On the final day of competition, the Commodores won four of seven singles matches and two of three doubles matches against Miami. Harwell, Ferriera, Klopper and Sisam all won in straight sets in their singles matches. Ross and Ferreira won their doubles match 8-4 while Klopper and Connor Robb-Wilcox won 8-5.
In the matchup with Clemson on Saturday, the Commodores swept all three doubles matches. Freeman and Harwell defeated the 15th-ranked duo of Yizhou Liu and Teodor Giusca 8-6 while Ross and Ferriera dropped just one game in their victory and Klopper and Robb-Wilcox won 8-4. Harwell and Robb-Wilcox also won their respective singles matchups.
On Friday against Auburn, Freeman and Harwell nearly knocked off the seventh-ranked duo of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett, but fell in a tiebreaker 9-8 (4). The Tigers won the other two doubles matches and five singles matches, but Sisam defeated Spencer Gray (Auburn) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 and Klopper won over Jan Galka 7-6 (2), 6-1.
The ITA Regionals are up next Sept. 23-27 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Harwell, Freeman and Ferriera were also selected to compete at the ITA All-American Championships hosted by the University of Tulsa on Oct. 2-10. A full fall schedule is here.
Fans can follow Vanderbilt men’s tennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @VandyMTennis.
Friday Results vs. Auburn
#19 Tyler Stice (Aub) def. George Harwell (Vandy) 6-1, 6-2
Joubert Klopper (Vandy) def. Jan Galka (Aub) 7-6 (2), 6-1
Raul Dobai (Aub) def. Marcus Ferreira (Vandy) 3-6, 6-0, 6-2
Tad Maclean (Aub) def. Michael Ross (Vandy) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
Will Nolan (Aub) def. Max Freeman (Vandy) 6-1, 6-2
Jackson Ross (Aub) def. Connor Robb-Wilcox (Vandy) 6-2, 6-1
Macsen Sisam (Vandy) def. Spencer Gray (Aub) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5
#7 Tad Maclean/Finn Murgett (Aub) def. #19 George Harwell/Max Freeman (Vandy) 9-8 (4)
Will Nolan/Raul Dobai (Aub) def. Macsen Sisam/Joubert Klopper (Vandy) 9-7
Tyler Stice/Jan Galka (Aub) def. Michael Ross/Connor Robb-Wilcox (Vandy) 8-4
Saturday Results vs. Clemson
#80 Teodor Giusca (Clem) def. Joubert Klopper (Vandy) 6-3, 7-6 (1)
George Harwell (Vandy) def. Ryuhei Azuma (Clem) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Jorge Plans (Clem) def. Marcus Ferreira (Vandy) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1)
Yizhou Liu (Clem) def. Michael Ross (Vandy) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Spencer Whitaker (Clem) def. Macsen Sisam (Vandy) 6-3, 7-5
Tim Pitts (Clem) def. Max Freeman (Vandy) 6-1, 6-2
Connor Robb-Wilcox (Vandy) def. Trey Stinchcomb (Clem) 7-5, 7-5
#19 George Harwell/Max Freeman (Vandy) def. #15 Yizhou Liu/Teodor Giusca (Clem) 8-6
Michael Ross/Marcus Ferriera (Vandy) def. Ryuhei Azuma/Spencer Whitaker (Clem) 8-1
Joubert Klopper/Connor Robb-Wilcox (Vandy) def. Tim Pitts/Trey Stinchcomb (Clem) 8-4
Sunday Results vs. Miami (Fla.)
George Harwell (Vandy) def. Bojan Jankulovski (Mia) 6-2, 6-2
Marcus Ferreira (Vandy) def. Juan Martin Jalif (Mia) 7-5, 7-5
Joubert Klopper (Vandy) def. Oren Vasser (Mia) 6-2, 6-4
Dan Martin (Mia) def. Michael Ross (Vandy) 7-6 (6), 7-5
Franco Aubone (Mia) def. Connor Robb-Wilcox (Vandy) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
Casper Christensen (Mia) def. Max Freeman (Vandy) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
Macsen Sisam (Vandy) def. Ilarion Danilchenko (Mia) 6-1, 6-3
Dan Martin/Franco Aubone (Mia) def. #19 George Harwell/Max Freeman (Vandy) 8-4
Michael Ross/Marcus Ferreira (Vandy) def. Oren Vasser/Juan Martin Jalif (Mia) 8-4
Joubert Klopper/Connor Robb-Wilcox (Vandy) def. Casper Christensen/Bojan Jankulovski (Mia) 8-5
