No. 19 Vanderbilt Men’s Tennis traveled Tuesday to Gainesville, Florida, to face No. 21 Florida before heading to Columbia, South Carolina Thursday to take on No. 13 South Carolina. The Commodores dropped each match 4-1, extending their SEC losing streak to eight matches in a row.
The Black and Gold now hold a record of 15-11 on the season and are just 4-9 in conference play with one match remaining before the SEC Tournament.
Florida
The Gators were on the board first in doubles as Kevin Edengren and Andreas Timini defeated Hugo Coquelin and Jack Satterfield 6-3. Vanderbilt’s No. 20 nationally ranked pair of Nathan Cox and Hoyoung Roh responded by achieving a 7-6(1) upset victory over Florida’s No. 8 duo of Henry Jefferson and Tanapatt Nirundorn. All eyes turned to the No. 2 doubles position as the winner of the match would earn the doubles point.
Despite the ranked doubles victory, the Commodores were unable to claim the opening point. Florida’s Adhithya Ganesan and Pablo Perez Ramos prevailed in a 7-6(4) nail-biter over Pablo Martinez Gomez and Callum Markowitz.
Florida was once again off to a hot start in singles with Jefferson toppling Cox 6-4, 6-2, followed by Edengren defeating Commodore freshman Donghyun Hwang 6-2, 6-4. With a 3-0 lead, the Gators just needed one of the remaining four singles matches to go their way.
Vanderbilt refused to go away as No. 79 Pablo Martinez Gomez earned a 7-6(5), 6-1 lead to cut the Gator lead to 3-1. However, No. 48 Ramos quickly responded, narrowly defeating Satterfield 6-3, 7-6(1) to secure the match for Florida and leave two contests unfinished.
Danil Panarin dropped the first set 6-4, but evened the second set score at 4-4 against Jeremy Jin. Roh cruised to a 6-3 first set victory but Lorenzo Claverie got the best of the freshman with a 6-3 second set win. Roh held a 3-2 third set margin when the match was called.
South Carolina
Vanderbilt looked to bounce back from Tuesday’s loss at Florida and came out of the gate firing, with Martinez Gomez and Markowitz downing South Carolina’s No. 90 ranked pair of Sean Daryabeigi and Max Stenzer 6-3. Satterfield and Hwang were unable to carry the momentum, falling 6-4 to Gabe Avram and Charlie Swaine. South Carolina captured the doubles point with No. 15 Lucas da Silva and Paul Barbier Gazeu earning a 6-4 victory over Cox and Roh.
No. 56 Daryabeigi bounced back from his doubles loss and defeated Panarin in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. The Gamecocks then secured a 3-0 advantage as No. 105 Gazeu defeated No. 88 Roh 6-4, 6-3, at the No. 2 singles position. Cox garnered the Commodores first point, with a decisive 6-3, 6-3 win over Stenzer. However, the Black and Gold’s momentum quickly dissipated as Avram clinched the match for South Carolina. The sophomore edged out Coquelin 6-3, 6-2, leaving two matches unfinished.
Martinez Gomez held a strong 7-5, 5-2 edge over Silva while Satterfield split sets but grabbed the first couple of points in the third set when the match was called.
With two more road losses, the ‘Dores close their in-conference away record at 4-6. It has been a disappointing conference play for head coach Scott Brown and company, but the squad will look to turn it around with the SEC tournament quickly approaching.
Vanderbilt will host Alabama in its final regular-season match April 10 at 5 p.m. CDT at the Lummis Family Tennis Center.
