After a solid showing at the 2024 ITA Men’s Tennis All-American Championships two weeks ago, Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis continued its fall season at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships hosted by Purdue. 

Vanderbilt fielded six singles players and five doubles pairs over the weekend. Senior Henry Ruger and sophomore Hugo Coquelin were the stars of the tournament, as they reached the final four on the doubles side. They also advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles draw before losing their matches on Sunday.

Singles

Vanderbilt opened play on Friday with a singles lineup of Coquelin, Ruger, Michael Ross, Dylan Charlap, Nathan Cox and Callum Markowitz. Cox forfeited his first match, and Markowitz fell to Butler’s Patrick Joss in a 3-6, 6-2, 1-6 duel. Charlap lost to Indiana’s Jip van Assendelft in straight sets, 2-6, 4-6.

The rest of Vanderbilt’s group saw success as three Commodores advanced past the Round of 32. Coquelin knocked off Dayton’s Kyle McNally in a come-from-behind effort, prevailing 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Similarly, Ross dropped his first set to Purdue’s Daniel Labrador, 5-7, but stormed back and won the final two sets, 7-6 (3) and 6-4. Ruger also took care of business in a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Belmont’s Sabi Roi. 

The second part of Saturday’s matches gave the Commodores an unlucky draw, as Coquelin was matched up with Ross in the Round of 16. The former defeated the latter 7-6, 6-3, while Ruger toppled Louisville’s Kosuke Nakanishi, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. Ruger dropped a Sunday morning matchup to Middle Tennessee State’s Karim Al-Amin, 6-2, 6-4. Coquelin put forth an impressive showing against No. 1-seeded Shunsuke Mitsui from Tennessee but ultimately came up short in a 3-6, 4-6 loss.

Doubles

Five Vanderbilt doubles teams competed in the doubles draw — Coquelin/Ruger, Ross/Cox, Charlap/Markowitz, Giuseppe Cerasuolo/Tighe Brunetti and Oscar Oberei/Jack Ingram. 

Coquelin and Ruger received the No. 3 seed, earning a bye through the Round of 64. In the Round of 32, Vanderbilt’s top doubles team defeated Louisville’s pair of Russell Lokko and Evan Duggal, 8-5, before quickly rolling over Butler’s Arnesh Singh and the aforementioned Joss, 8-4, in the Round of 16. Coquelin and Ruger advanced to the quarterfinals on Saturday morning and took care of business against Kentucky’s duo of Eli Stephenson and Matthew Rankin in an 8-5 win. 

In the semifinals and finals, the tournament’s format transitioned to a best-of-three set match with a 10-point super-tiebreak in the final set. After losing the first set 4-6 to Middle Tennessee State’s Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak, the Commodores’ 6-4 second set win forced a third-set decider. The Blue Raiders squeezed out a narrow 10-8 victory in the tiebreak to send Coquelin and Ruger home. 

The No. 6-seeded Ross and Cox defeated Butler’s pair of Nicolas Arts and Rahulniket Konakanchi, 8-6, before being eliminated from the tournament in the Round of 32 by East Tennessee State’s Francisco Lamas and Martin Garcia-Ripoll Ore in a 6-8 loss. Cerasuolo and Brunetti made the Round of 32 before losing to the same Kentucky team that Coquelin and Ruger defeated in the quarterfinals. Charlap/Markowitz and Oberei/Ingram both dropped their first-round matches to Belmont’s Eli Mizerski and Morgan Woodson, 5-8, and Dayton’s McNally and Brady Hussey, 7-8 (3).

Vanderbilt will next head to Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, Nov. 1, for a weekend invite hosted by Georgia Tech.