Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis extended its match win streak to four with gritty wins over Middle Tennessee and Northwestern last week after rolling over Belmont and Southern Indiana earlier this month. The Commodores improved to 7-2 on the season, with the victories carrying some serious momentum going into SEC play.
Vanderbilt vs. Middle Tennessee
The Commodores headed down I-24 to Murfreesboro on Feb. 5 to take on the Blue Raiders — a team that Vanderbilt had not beaten since 2021. Vanderbilt’s top doubles team of Nathan Cox and Michael Ross defeated Middle Tennessee’s Karim Al-Amin and Ondrej Horak, 7-6 (4), to claim revenge for a loss earlier in the season at the ITA Regionals. After Giuseppe Cerasuolo and Henry Ruger dropped their matchup, 5-7, Danil Panarin and Pablo Martinez-Gomez secured the doubles point for Vanderbilt with a clutch 7-5 victory over Rostislav Halfinger and Kacper Szymkowiak. That point proved to be pivotal in the Commodores’ come-from-behind win.
Vanderbilt found itself in serious trouble during singles play. Szymkowiak quickly downed Ross, 7-6 (3), 6-2, and Al-Amin staged a comeback victory over Cox at the top singles spot, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Panarin snagged a 7-5, 6-4 win over Jakub Kroslak at the No. 2 singles spot, but that was quickly erased by Middle Tennessee’s Shu Matsuoka, who knocked off Martinez-Gomez, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. The Commodores stared defeat right in the face, as Ruger was down a set to Horak at the five spot. After dropping his first set tiebreaker, Ruger mounted an enormous recovery, surging past Horak 6-4, 6-3 to even things up overall at 3-3.
Ruger wasn’t the only comeback hero.
Tighe Brunetti dropped the first set, 4-6, to Middle Tennessee’s Igor Mandou Berranger in the No. 6 singles match. The junior from Westport, Connecticut, stormed back in the second set, 7-5, before evening the score at 6-6 in the deciding set of the team match. Brunetti carried his momentum from the second set in a gutsy 7-2 tiebreak win that sealed Vanderbilt’s 4-3 triumph over the Blue Raiders.
Vanderbilt vs. Northwestern
Vanderbilt took on the Northwestern Wildcats in front of a strong home crowd at the Curie Tennis Center two days later on Feb 7. The Commodores easily secured the doubles point with 6-3 wins at both No. 2 and 3 doubles.
Vanderbilt carried that momentum into singles play, where Cox cruised past Northwestern’s Greyson Casey, 6-4, 6-2. Panarin rolled over Saiprakash Goli with that same scoreline, putting the Commodores up 3-0. Vanderbilt ran into a bit of trouble, however, after Northwestern’s Felix Nordby defeated Ross, 7-5, 6-3, and Carter Pate won a three-set thriller over Gomez, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Despite dropping his first set to Northwestern’s Max Bengtsson, Brunetti impressed once again with a strong 6-4 win in the second set before securing Vanderbilt’s team victory with a 10-7 score in the deciding set.
The Commodores have a two-week break before opening SEC play in Austin, Texas, against the Longhorns on Feb. 22 at 1 p.m CST.
