NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 17 Vanderbilt Commodores defeated the No. 40 Tennessee Vols 4-1 in front of a packed house on the outdoor courts of the Currey Tennis Center. With the win, the `Dores improve to 14-5 overall and 4-3 in conference play.
“I thought that was a very big win for us for a number of reasons,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “You know we didn’t play a very good match last week at LSU, and I felt it was important that we get back on the right track immediately.”
The Commodores came out strong in doubles, but the Volunteers ultimately captured the crucial doubles point with wins on courts one and two. No. 1 Gonzales Austin and Rhys Johnson were defeated by the Vols 2nd ranked team; 6-2. On court two Baker Newman and Pen Binet fell in a 6-4 decision.
Down one point, the Commodores had to rely on their singles play to dig their way back into contention. Using the doubles loss a fuel, Vandy came out on fire in singles winning five first sets.
“Even though doubles wasn’t our most stellar effort of the year, I thought we did a great job in singles especially early on. We talked about being ready to play from the very first point. At some point there I had looked up at the scoreboard and we were up 4-1 in every set at least and on some courts we were up 5-1, except on Rhys’ court, we were on serve at 3-all. So I thought we really had a good start in singles that carried us through. They obviously made it closer towards the end there, but I thought we hung in well and we didn’t panic when they started to change momentum.”
Senior Suresh Eswaran powered through his match on six, defeating Brandon Fickey 6-1, 6-3 to tie the match at 1-all. Daniel Valent brought in the second point for Vanderbilt as he cruised through his match at the No. 3 position. The freshman defeated Jack Schipanski 6-2 in the first set, and delivered his fifth 6-0-shutout set to give the `Dores a 2-1 advantage.
No. 10 Austin took on the second highest ranked SEC player in the latest ITA polls. The Miami native defeated No. 14 Mikelis Libietis on court one in a physical 6-4, 6-2 match. Newman continued on his tradition of clutch wins, clinching the win on court five with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Igor Smelyanski. The freshman also clinched the win against Florida and the doubles point against Auburn along side Binet.
While their matches were abandoned, juniors Rhys Johnson and Kris Yee were fighting toe to toe against their opponents on courts two and four.
“I also thought that Kris did a great job at finding a way to win the second set and to get momentum in our favor. Rhys did a good job after losing the second set to go down a break and then find a way to break back and get it back on serve… that definitely helped our momentum as a team All in all there were a lot of positives there today and it’s a very good win for us against a really good tennis team, so I told the team to enjoy it for a little bit, but tomorrow we have to get back to work to get ready for Kentucky.”
The Commodores continue SEC action at home this Saturday as they host the Kentucky Wildcats at 1:00 p.m.
Results:
No. 17 Vanderbilt 4, No. 40 Tennessee 1
Doubles:
1) No. 2 Hunter Reese/Mikelis Libietis (UT) def. No. 1 Gonzales Austin/Rhys Johnson (VU); 6-2
2) Andrew Dromsky/Igor Smelyanski (UT) def. Baker Newman/Pen Binet (VU); 7-5
3) Suresh Eswaran/Ryan Smith (VU) vs. Jack Schipanski/Luis Valero (UT); 6-6
Order of Finish; 1, 2
Singles:
1) No. 10 Gonzales Austin (VU) def. No. 14 Mikelis Libietis (UT); 6-4, 6-2
2) Rhys Johnson (VU) led Hunter Reese (UT); 7-5, 1-6, 3-2
3) Daniel Valent (VU) def. Jack Schipanski (UT); 6-2, 6-0
4) Luis Valero (UT) led Kris Yee (UT); 7-6, 4-6, 2-0
5) Baker Newman (VU) def. Igor Smelyanski (UT); 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
6) Suresh Eswaran (VU) def. Brandon Fickey (UT); 6-1, 6-3
Order of Finish; 6, 3, 1, 5*
