Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis came into this past weekend having won five of its last six matches, including a thrilling 4-3 win over LSU in Baton Rouge on Feb. 24. However, the Commodores ran into trouble on their road trip in Alabama, dropping their Friday match against Auburn, 3-4, and their Sunday match against the No. 21 Crimson Tide, 0-4.

Vanderbilt vs. Auburn

One of Vanderbilt’s strongest attributes this season has been its doubles play — the Commodores came into Auburn having clinched 9-of-11 doubles points in head-to-head matches on the season. The Tigers drew first blood rather quickly, though, as No. 13 ranked Billy Blaydes and Will Nolan downed Nathan Cox and Michael Ross, 6-1. That was swiftly followed up by Nicholas Heng and Jake Kennedy’s 6-2 victory over Giuseppe Cerasuolo and Henry Ruger, clinching the doubles point for Auburn.

In singles play, the Commodores grabbed first-set leads in three matches. Despite this, Nolan notched a 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 1 singles to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Vanderbilt got on the board after Ross knocked off Joey Phillips, 6-2, 6-1 in No. 4 singles. Auburn inched closer to a win as Heng breezed past Callum Markowitz at No. 6 singles, 7-5, 6-0. Down to their last point, the Commodores were kept alive thanks to Danil Panarin pushing past Auburn’s Alex Frusina in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-4). The Tigers sent Vanderbilt packing, though, after Blaydes defeated Pablo Martinez Gomez in a 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles.

Vanderbilt vs. Alabama

Two days later, the Commodores drove three hours northwest to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama, a Top 25 SEC foe. From the very start, the Crimson Tide controlled the match in dominant fashion, dropping only one set across all matches throughout the day. 

Alabama’s Matic Kriznik and Filip Planinsek defeated Cox and Ross, 6-3, while Damien Nezar and Andrii Zimnokh rolled past Martinez Gomez and Panarin, 6-2. After securing the doubles point, the Crimson Tide notched wins at No. 1, 2 and 3 singles in that order. Planinsek cruised past Cox, 6-3, 6-3, as Alabama’s Roan Jones made easy work of Panarin, notching a 6-3, 6-4 victory. That was followed up by Matias Ponce De Leon’s clincher over Martinez Gomez, 6-3, 7-6 (4). At No. 6 singles, Dylan Charlap won the second set against Zach Foster before his match went unfinished as a result of the Crimson Tide’s 4-0 victory.

The No. 39 ranked Commodores will take on No. 43 South Carolina at home tomorrow in their SEC home opener at 3:30 p.m. CST.