The No. 48 Vanderbilt Commodores defeated the No. 19 South Carolina Gamecocks this past Sunday in Columbia, S.C., 4-3. This close victory came after Vanderbilt lost to No. 29 Florida just two days prior.
“This is what college tennis is about,” head coach Scott Brown said. “We had two road matches, both 4-3, and both came down to the wire. This is why we train and we prepare – for matches like these.”
Vanderbilt’s duo of Danil Panarin and Hugo Coquelin defeated the Gamecocks’ Sean Daryabeigi and Jelani Sarr 6-4 to claim the first doubles match. Jeremie Casabon and Nathan Cox then prevailed 7-5 in their match to claim the doubles point for the Commodores. The remaining Vanderbilt doubles pair, Joubert Klopper and Michael Ross were down 5-6 when the doubles point was secured and play was called.
In singles, Vanderbilt’s one-point lead was quickly demolished, as South Carolina’s No. 19 Toby Samuel defeated No. 72 Panarin 6-0, 6-0. The Gamecocks then took the lead as Lucas de Silva beat Vanderbilt’s Ross after a tight first set 7-5, 6-1. After these two early defeats, the Commodores would win their first singles match with a 7-5, 6-4 victory by Cox over Daryabeigi. With the match tied 2-2 in points, Vanderbilt needed to win two of the remaining three singles matches to take the victory.
Casabon claimed the first of the final three matches, defeating Sarr in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. South Carolina’s James Story then responded with a three-set comeback victory over Klopper, as Story won the match with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 score.
With the overall points knotted up 3-3, the deciding match would be Vanderbilt’s Coquelin versus South Carolina’s Carter Morgan. Coquelin, who had lost the decisive set in Friday’s match against Florida, took the tight first set against Morgan with a 7-6 (7-2) score. Morgan then stormed back to take the second set 4-6. However, Coquelin would end the third set victorious, as he closed out the win for the Commodores with a 6-3 final set.
“I also want to shout out Hugo Coquelin,” Brown said. “When it comes down to the wire, I love having him out there. He lost the clincher on Friday to Florida but today just proves how he comes back and always fights.”
Vanderbilt next competes at home on Friday, April 12 at 4 p.m. CDT against LSU and again on Sunday, April 14 at 1 p.m. CDT against No. 38 Georgia.
