After three consecutive SEC wins over Tennessee, Oklahoma and No. 14 Texas A&M, Vanderbilt split a pair of close road matches with a victory over Arkansas and a close loss to Ole Miss.
“These guys just hang around and hang around,” head coach Scott Brown said after the Arkansas win. “They stay the course, and when the opponent leaves the door open, when they show a little chink in their armor, we step on them.”
Arkansas
The Commodores quickly fell behind as Eric Padgham and Ben Weintraub defeated Vanderbilt’s No. 49 Nathan Cox and Hoyoung Roh, 6-4. Brendan Boland and Dmitry Kopilevich defeated Vanderbilt’s Hugo Coquelin and Jack Satterfield, 6-2. With these two victories, the Razorbacks earned the doubles point, taking the lead heading into singles.
Arkansas extended the edge with Brendan Boland taking down Coquelin, 6-1, 6-3. Satterfield captured the ’Dores’ first point by defeating Dmitry Kopilevich in a 6-2, 6-3 contest. Vanderbilt’s Danil Panarin then evened the match at 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Gabriel Elicha Navas.
Arkansas’ No. 21 Jakub Vrba took down No. 115 Pablo Martinez Gomez in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 (9), giving the Razorbacks a 3-2 lead. The Commodores then rallied back with Cox claiming a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Ben Weintraub in a three-set thriller. With the score tied at 3-3, all eyes were on the No. 2 singles matchup between No. 90 Roh and Lukas Palovic. After losing the first set, Roh fought back to outlast Palovic, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Roh’s win clinched the match for the Black and Gold, marking their fourth straight road win.
“Again, I’m speechless watching this team,” Brown said. “We keep finding that extra gear, and the team knows they have that extra gear when the moments count.”
Ole Miss
The Black and Gold fought for the doubles point early with Roh and Cox beating Kai Milburn and Isac Stromberg, 6-4. The Rebels’ Benjamin Martin and Mattheiu Chambonniere fought back, toppling Coquelin and Satterfield, 7-6(4). Martinez Gomez and Panarin then secured the doubles point with a 7-6(5) victory over No. 63 Stefano D’Agostino and Pietro Pampanin.
The Commodores capitalized on early momentum as Cox took down Vlado Jankanj, 6-3, 6-3, to give Vanderbilt a 2-0 lead. Coquelin added to the lead, defeating Isac Stromberg, 6-3, 6-2.
Vanderbilt led the match 3-0, needing only one more point to secure the victory, but the Rebels clearly had other plans. Mattheiu Chambonniere took down Roh, 7-5, 6-0, and Pietro Pampanin followed suit, defeating Panarin, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. Stefano D’Agostino bested Martinez Gomez in a close-fought two-set battle, 7-6(2), 7-6(6). With the match tied at 3-3, the Rebels’ Noah Schlagenhauf beat Satterfield, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, earning the win and ending the Commodores four-match road win streak. Ole Miss completed the reverse sweep, winning four straight singles matches to beat the Commodores after trailing the match 0-3.
“I’m still proud of the guys,” Brown said after the loss. “We put ourselves in a position to win, and today just didn’t go our way. That’s part of life and part of tennis.”
Vanderbilt returns to Nashville for its next eight matches, facing Auburn and Xavier in a doubleheader Friday, March 13, beginning at 1 p.m. CDT.
