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VU Men’s Tennis Upsets Ole Miss; Returns to NCAA Sweet 16 for Second Straight Year 5/16/2004
VU Men’s Tennis Upsets Ole Miss; Returns to NCAA Sweet 16 for Second Straight Year OXFORD, Miss. — Just hours after the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16, the Commodore men duplicated the feat by knocking off 8th-seeded Ole Miss, 4-1. Vanderbilt improves to 16-11 and will face Georgia in Tulsa, Okla., next weekend, while Ole Miss falls to 22-5. Vanderbilt claimed the match with wins at the top of the lineup. After capturing the doubles point with a 2-1 advantage, the Commodores got wins at the Nos. 1, 2 and 4 singles for the victory. Vanderbilt won a tight doubles point to take the early 1-0 lead in the match. Ole Miss won 8-4 at No. 2 doubles. At No. 1 doubles, Chad Harris and Scott Brown teamed up to beat Paul Ciorascu and Claes Lindholm, 9-7, leaving No. 3 doubles to decide the point. Catalin Gard and Karim Alayli got the early break, but the Commodore due of Matt Lockin and Nathan Sachs broke back. At 5-4, VU broke and went on to win 9-7 to clinch the point. Following the doubles, it began to rain. After a period of waiting, it was decided that the match would be moved indoors to the Gillom Sports Center. When play resumed inside, Lindholm evened the match with his straight set win over VU’s Matt Lockin at No. 3 singles. The Rebel senior All-SEC performer won the first set 6-3. Lindholm served for the match at 5-3, but Lockin broke back and held serve to even the set at 5. Lindholm held his serve and then broke Lockin for the victory. With the win, Lindholm improved to 20-4 in dual matches. Vanderbilt regained the lead and increased the margin to 3-1 by winning at the top two spots. Brown came back to beat Ciorascu in three sets. Ciorascu won the first set 7-5. The second would go to a tiebreaker, which Brown won 7-2 to force the deciding set. Brown, an All-SEC honoree, broke at 4-4 and held to give the Commodores a 2-1 advantage. Moments later, Harris finished off SEC Player of the Year, Gard, in three sets to make it 3-1. Harris claimed the first set 7-5, but Gard rallied to win the second 7-6(5). Harris, an All-SEC player, broke early in the third and went on to win 6-3. With the five and six matches early in their first sets, Vanderbilt senior Zach Dailey finished off Rebel sophomore Juan Pablo Di Cesare on court four to clinch the Commodore victory. Di Cesare won the first set 6-4, but Dailey rallied to claim the second and third sets 6-3, 6-2, respectively. DOUBLES |
