Riding a four-match win streak, No. 34 Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis traveled south to compete against No. 4 Texas and No. 67 LSU in its first SEC matches of the spring season. Head coach Scott Brown’s squad was handily defeated by the Longhorns’ elite unit, but it rebounded in heroic fashion in Baton Rouge.
Feb. 22 vs. Texas
The Longhorns gained an early lead after securing the doubles point. Pierre-Yves Bailly and Oliver Ojakaar swiftly defeated Danil Panarin and Pablo Martinez Gomez in a 6-1 rout. Soon after, Sebastian Eriksson and Lucas Brown beat Henry Ruger and Giuseppe Cerasuolo in a 6-4 contest.
The Black and Gold did not fare much better in singles play. Eriksson made quick work of Ruger in a 6-4, 6-2 win, and No. 15 Sebastian Gorzny followed suit with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Panarin. Ojakaar then beat Michael Ross 7-5, 6-3, and Brown earned a 6-4, 6-2 win over Tighe Brunetti. Vanderbilt’s 98th-ranked junior, Nathan Cox, came close to upsetting No. 7 Timo Legout but fell short, losing 6-4, 3-6, 10-8. The Longhorns completed the sweep following No. 33 Jonah Braswell’s nail-biting 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 win over Gomez.
The blowout marked Texas’ fifth win over a top-50 opponent this season.
Feb. 24 vs. LSU
Doubles play in Baton Rouge saw No. 87 Cox and Ross secure a 6-2 upset win over No. 27 Aleksi Lofman and Julien Penzlin. Cerasuolo and Ruger doubled down with a 7-5 victory against Enzo Kohlmann and Alessio Vasquez, earning the Black and Gold the pivotal doubles point.
The Commodores and Tigers then engaged in a dogfight.
Lofman redeemed his doubles loss to Ross with a commanding singles victory, defeating the junior 6-1, 6-2. Brock Anderson rode this momentum to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Brunetti, but Panarin evened the ante with a 6-4, 6-4 downing of Vasquez. Sasa Markovic gave the Tigers a 3-2 match lead following his 7-6 (4), 6-4 upset of No. 98 Cox.
With the match on the line, the Commodores dug deep.
After a disastrous first set, Ruger showcased his leadership as Vanderbilt’s captain, rallying to defeat Andrej Loncarevic in a thrilling 0-6, 7-5, 6-0 comeback. The match stood at 3-3 as fans watched Vanderbilt’s first-year, Gomez, square up against LSU’s 125th-ranked senior, Penzlin.
After forcing a third-set tiebreaker, Gomez fell into a 3-1 hole to the German, putting the Tigers in a prime position to end the match for good. However, the Murcia, Spain, native did not waver, flipping the script to secure the win for the ‘Dores.
“That was a character and culture win,” Brown said.
Gomez’s victory marked Penzlin’s first loss in dual match play of the season.
“Today we showed that we are the ‘Comeback Commodores.’ We will never go away; we’re going to keep hanging around in matches until we get an opportunity to win,” Brown said.
No. 34 Vanderbilt (8-3, 1-1 SEC) continues its road trip on Feb. 28, traveling to face No. 35 Auburn (7-4, 0-2) in what should be another thrilling matchup.
