Men's Tennis Falls to Arkansas in SEC Opener, 4-3 2/9/03

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The 25th-ranked Vanderbilt men's tennis team had its first setback of the 2003 season, as it fell to Southeastern Conference foe Arkansas, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Dills Indoor Tennis Center. With the loss, the Commodores fall to 4-1 overall and 0-1 in the SEC, while the Razorbacks improve their record to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference.

Junior Bobby Reynolds (Acworth, Ga.) continued to be the driving force in the Commodores' lineup, as he won his 22nd singles match (22-5) of the 2002-03 season. The eighth-ranked Reynolds defeated No. 57-ranked Aleksey Bubis in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 1 position.

Fellow junior Chad Harris (Aurora, Colo.) was able to rebound from his loss on Saturday, but it did not come without a difficult fight. He was able to win the first set over Nathan Price 6-4, but Price came back with force in the second to take the set, 6-1. Price carried the momentum into the final set, as he jumped out to a 5-2 lead. Seeming down and out, Harris clawed his way back to knot the score at 5-5. Both players continued to battle pushing the match to a third-set tiebreaker. Harris was able to withstand Price, and take the tiebreaker, 7-4.

Vanderbilt's other point came in the doubles portion of the match, which it was able to sweep. Head coach Ken Flach's squad won all three doubles matches by scores of 8-5 (No. 1), 8-4 (No. 2) and 8-5 (No. 3), respectively.

The Commodores' misfortunes came in the other four singles matches. While junior Zach Dailey (Memphis, Tenn.) and senior Josh Tarkoff (Miami, Fla.) both lost their matches in straight sets at the No. 4 and 5 positions, respectively, sophomore Matthew Lockin (Lilburn, Ga.) and junior Lewie Smith (Memphis, Tenn.) both went to three sets with their opponents.

At the No. 3 spot, Lockin battled Eduardo Pacheco. After dropping the first set 6-4, the University of Michigan transfer figured Pacheco's game out and took the second, 6-3. Unfortunately, Pacheco was able to gather himself in the final set and take it 6-3. Pacheco's win clinched the dual match for the Razorbacks.

At the No. 6 position, Smith jumped out to a very fast start on Matt Roberts en route to winning the first set, 6-1. The roles were completely reversed in the second set, as Roberts took it 6-1. After gaining an early break of serve in the third set, Roberts battled back to knot the score at 3-3. Roberts would continued to pressure Smith, as she won the third set, 6-4.

The Commodores will look to get back on track Saturday, February 15, against No. 75-ranked Furman at the Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center. Their match will be a double-header with the women's squad, who will take on Georgia Tech. Check back to VUCommodores.com for an update on the match times.

Singles

Doubles