No. 13 Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis’s SEC woes continued against No. 3 Texas and No. 11 Georgia. The Commodores (14-7, 4-5 SEC) lost to the Longhorns 4-0 March 20 then fell to the Bulldogs by the same score March 22. The losses marked Vanderbilt’s third and fourth straight losses in SEC play.
The Commodores bounced back immediately after losing to Georgia, however, routing the Eastern Kentucky Colonels 4-0 on the same day to end the week in the win column.
Texas
Vanderbilt and Texas traded blows at doubles to start the day. Commodores Hugo Coquelin and Jack Satterfield fell on court 3 to Texas’s No. 19-ranked Sebastian Eriksson and Oliver Ojakaar, 6-3, but Vanderbilt’s No. 29 Nathan Cox and Hoyoung Roh leveled the playing field by downing their Texas counterparts 6-4 on court 1.
The Longhorns ultimately claimed the doubles point when No. 23 Sebastian Gorzny and Lucas Marionneau defeated Pablo Martinez Gomez and Danil Panarin in a competitive 6-4 finish.
Texas then swept singles play to secure the victory. Gorzny, ranked the No. 4 singles player in the country, took his match against Martinez Gomez in two sets, 6-3, 6-4. No. 43 Eriksson followed suit, sweeping Cox 7-6 (4), 6-4. Marionneau trumped Coquelin 6-1, 7-6 (2) to seal Texas’ victory and leave the other singles matches unfinished.
Georgia
Coquelin and Satterfield got themselves back in the win column by downing Derrick Chen and Noah Johnston, 6-2, to open the match. That would be the Commodores’ only triumph of the faceoff, though. Cox and Roh fell at the No. 1 doubles position to No. 26 Arda Azkara and Santiago Giamichelle, 6-4. Will Jansen and Gabriele Vulpitta locked up the doubles point for the Bulldogs by taking down the duo of Martinez Gomez and Panarin.
The Bulldogs then swept the Commodores in singles to claim a 4-0 victory on the day. However, the Commodores were much more competitive than the final scoreline would suggest. Coquelin, Cox and Hoyoung all fell to their counterparts in straight sets — in that order — but the unfinished matches were tipping in Vanderbilt’s favor. Martinez Gomez and Satterfield both took the first set off their opponents, and Martinez Gomez held a 4-3 advantage in the second. Panarin narrowly lost his first set 7-6 (4) but was tied at 3-3 in the second.
EKU
The Commodores did not drop a single set against the Colonels en route to a 4-0 victory. The duos of Cox/Roh and Tighe Brunetti/Panarin both won their matches 6-2 to secure the doubles point and leave Markowitz and Satterfield’s match unfinished.
Satterfield kicked off singles play with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Fernando Bulnes Garrorena. Panarin made quick work of Nuno Pinheiro on court 1, 6-2, 6-0, to put the Commodores up 3-0, and Brunetti sealed Vanderbilt’s victory with a 6-4, 6-1 sweep against Adrian Contreras.
Vanderbilt will look to turn things around when it hosts Kentucky at 5 p.m. CST March 27.
