Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis hosted three matches in the Music City March 27 and 29. The first day consisted of a dual match between the Commodores and Kentucky, and then two days later, the ’Dores hosted a doubleheader against No. 7 LSU and Butler. Despite suffering defeats at the hands of Kentucky (1-4) and LSU (1-4), the Commodores recovered to finish their weekend on a high note with a win over Butler.
With the weekend’s results, the Black and Gold now move to 15-9 on the season and 4-7 in conference play, as they enter the final stretch of conference matches before the SEC Tournament.
Kentucky
Vanderbilt entered the match looking to notch its first win over Kentucky since 2019. Ultimately, though, it was the Wildcats who walked away victorious with a 4-1 win, extending the Commodores’ conference losing streak to five. The Black and Gold started the day by conceding the doubles point to the Big Blue, with Hugo Coquelin and Jack Satterfield falling to No. 48-ranked Nicolas Arseneault and Matt Rankin, 6-4. Then, Pablo Martinez Gomez and Danil Panarin fell to Martin Mreysach and Jaden Weekes 6-3. This left the matchup between No. 29-ranked Nathan Cox and Hoyoung Roh and No. 24-ranked Jack Loutit and Eli Stephenson unfinished with the Kentucky duo leading 6-5.
With the doubles match going to the Wildcats, they held the momentum, which they rode the rest of the match into singles play — allowing the Commodores to come up with just one point. At the No. 1 singles position, No. 111-ranked Martinez Gomez faced No. 22-ranked Stephenson in a gritty straight-set match that involved tie breakers in each set, but Martinez Gomez ultimately fell 7-6 (7-0) and 7-6 (7-0). The Commodores’ No. 2 singles player, No. 70-ranked Roh, also dropped his match to No. 99-ranked Nicolas Arseneault in three sets, 1-6, 6-4 and 7-5. Panarin would grab the ’Dores only match win and point of the day when he downed Weekes in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. The Wildcats finished the match with Mikael Arseneault defeating Satterfield in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.
No. 4 LSU
Vanderbilt and the Tigers started the match by trading wins at the doubles position; Cox and Roh fell to Andrej Loncarevic and Sasa Markovic 6-4 and Vanderbilt responded with a win from Martinez Gomes and Markowitz over No. 42-ranked Erik Arutiunian and Matias Ponce De Leon, 6-4. With the doubles score evened, it left the early point to be decided on Court 3, where Coquelin and Satterfield fell to Enzo Kohlmann and Olaf Pieczkowski to give the Tigers the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead.
On the singles side of play, it was a battle between the two teams, despite the fact that Vanderbilt only emerged victorious once, with five of the six singles matches going to third sets. The Commodores evened the score when No. 111 Martinez Gomez secured a come-from-behind win over No. 29 Pieczkowski, 1-6, 6-0, 6-3. However, from there on out it was the Tigers who cruised to three back-to-back wins to take the match. At the No. 2 singles position, Roh fell to Arutiunian, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Satterfield fell to Marias Ponce De Leon, once again in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 3-6. LSU would deliver the final blow on a straight-set win from Rudy Ceccon who downed Markowitz, 6-2, 7-5.
Butler
Despite the earlier loss to LSU, Vanderbilt would end its day on a high note with a dominating win over Butler, where it did not drop a single point. To start, the ’Dores secured the doubles points off a 6-3 win from Cox and Roh over Nicolas Arts and Rahulniket Konakanch, followed by a 6-3 victory from Coquelin and Panarin over Riccardo Baldi and Arnesh Singh.
Four straight wins on the singles side, each in two sets, propelled the Black and Gold to their first victory of the weekend. Panarin defeated Baldi 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 1 singles spot, followed by a 6-4,6-1 win from Satterfield over Konakanch. It was then freshman Cayden Wang that finished the match off for the Commodores, defeating Nicholas Shirley, 6-0, 6-1.
The Commodores will hit the road for their final away matches of the regular season. The ’Dores will take on No. 21 Florida April 2 before heading to Columbia to take on No. 16 South Carolina April 4. Those matches will start at 5 p.m. CDT and 1 p.m. CDT, respectively.
