GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After sweeping South Carolina on Friday afternoon, the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team was unable to carry the momentum to today’s match against 15th-ranked Florida and was handed a 7-0 defeat of their own.
Ryan Lipman and Bryant Salcedo, playing together for the second match in a row, got the Commodores off to a quick start with an 8-4 win over Andrew Butz and Bob van Overbeek in the No. 2 doubles match. On court three, Blake Bazarnik and Alex Zotov fell to the 80th-ranked duo of Billy Federhofer and Nassim Slilam, 8-6, leaving court one to decide the doubles point. Adam Baker and Charlie Jones got within 7-6, but couldn’t hold off 53rd-ranked Sekou Bangoura and Alexandrew Lacroix.
The Commodores couldn’t seem to get going in singles play, as Florida took the first set on four of the courts. Despite dropping all six singles matches, the Commodores didn’t go away easy, as they forced tiebreakers in at least one set on each court.
Florida’s Slilam defeated Jones, 6-4, 7-6(4) on court three, and Zotov fell, 6-1, 7-4(4) to Federhofer in the No. 5 match. Florida clinched the victory with a 6-2, 7-6(7) win on court two.
Lipman picked up a 6-4 win in the first set over No. 10 Lacroix, but dropped the second set 5-7. With the match already decided, a super tiebreaker set was played, and Lacroix came away with a 10-7 win.
Blake Bazarnik also won his first set, 7-6(7), on court six, but fell 4-6 in the second set. He also dropped a 10-7 decision in the super tiebreaker set. In the final match, Salcedo dropped a 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-3 decision to van Overbeek on court four.
The Commodores return home this weekend to host LSU and Arkansas.
