The Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis team extended its win streak with wins over Tennessee Tech and Alabama A&M at the Lummis Family Tennis Center on Jan. 21. 

Tennessee Tech

The Commodores went 7-0 this past weekend as Vanderbilt started its Sunday with two doubles matches, where duos Joubert Klopper and Danil Panarin and (No. 59) Jeremie Casabon and Nathan Cox each won their matches 6-2. The third doubles match, a pair of Juan Lopez and Connor Robb-Wilcox, was left unfinished, but Vanderbilt was up 4-3 when the match was called. Nonetheless, Vanderbilt secured the doubles point, and set the stage for singles play.

The Commodores claimed all six singles matches, three of them being won in straight-sets. Klopper (6-0, 6-0), Panarin (6-0, 6-2) and Casabon (6-3, 6-3) all contributed to this effort, being relentless against TTU. The other three singles games were slightly more competitive. Lopez won his first set 6-1, but Lucas Bitzer from TTU barely won the second set 7-6 to force a third set. Lopez eventually fell 7-5 in the third set to lose the match. Cox lost 3-6 in his first set of the day, but won back-to-back sets, 6-4 and 6-2, respectively. Finally, in the last singles match of the day, Alexandre Hillhouse closed out at an abbreviated set at 10-4 to secure a brutal 7-0 victory. 

Alabama A&M

Rightfully so, Vanderbilt entered the second set of matches with high expectations. To start, the duo of Lopez and Hugo Coquelin fought for Vanderbilt’s first victory (6-1) against AAMU. Klopper and Panarin followed closely behind, securing the doubles point, and creating a promising trend going into singles play. The final doubles match, featuring nationally ranked Casabon/Cox, was called short, with the Commodores leading at 5-4 at the end.  

Going into the second half of the match against AAMU, there was little room for improvement from the singles matches earlier in the day. Nevertheless, Vanderbilt managed to dominate, as Panarin, Cox, Lopez and Casabon all won in straight-sets. Notably, Klopper and Robb-Wilcox finished the sweep of AAMU while simultaneously going undefeated (6-0, 6-0) in their respective sets. 

“I’m very pleased with the recent matches we’ve had. Part of the reason [we] schedule these doubleheaders is to test the team early on [in the season] on their endurance, mentally and physically,” head coach Scott Brown said. “They put their heads down and got to work. So, yes, it was good to get a good first few matches to get the ball rolling, and I was very pleased with the progress they made over those four matches.”

“This isn’t the end, this isn’t the Super Bowl for us. There’s a lot of luck involved,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of things outside your control. You just have to go about your business the best way you know how each week, and that’s what we look forward to doing”.

The Commodores will look to keep their win streak alive at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 27.