Men's Tennis Defeats 20th-Ranked LSU on the Road, 5-2 3/28/03

BATON ROUGE, La. - The accomplishments keep rolling in for the eighth-ranked Vanderbilt men's tennis team, as on Friday it defeated Louisiana State, 5-2, for its fifth Southeastern Conference victory. The Commodores' five conference wins sets a new record for the men's tennis program. With the win, they stand at 14-2 overall and 5-2 in the SEC, while the Tigers fall to 9-6 overall and 2-5 in the conference.

The Commodores were still able to win the match handily despite dropping the doubles point for only the second time this season. The Tigers were able to win two of the three matches, which came at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Vanderbilt's only win came at the No. 1 spot, which the 14th-ranked team of Bobby Reynolds and Lewie Smith defeated LSU's 13th-ranked team of Bryan Fisher and Jason Hazley, 8-4.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the singles competition, the Commodores put together an incredible string of matches en route to the team victory. The No. 2-ranked Reynolds picked up a decisive , 6-3, 6-1, win over Hazley at the No. 1 position. For Reynolds, it was his 23rd-consecutive victory. He now owns a 33-5 overall record and a 14-0 dual-match mark.

At the No. 2 position, junior Chad Harris had to battle back from one set down to defeat Fisher. Harris, who is ranked 10th nationally, dropped the first set, 7-5, but fought back to win the next two, 6-0, 6-4. Harris is now 12-2 in dual matches and 27-8 for the year.

Sophomore Matt Lockin picked up a huge straight-set win over 38th-ranked Peter Richman, 6-4, 6-3. Richman, who normally competes at the No. 1 spot, was moved down to the No. 3 position in hopes of giving the Tigers a win. Lockin played a solid match, as he picked up his 19th win of the year.

Head coach Ken Flach picked up his other two singles wins at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions. Junior Zach Dailey earned a straight-set win over Cory Ross, 6-3, 7-5. Dailey is now 12-3 in dual matches. Besides Reynolds, possibly the strongest player as of late has been Smith. With a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Paul White, Smith is now 18-5 on the year and 14-1 in dual matches.

The Commodores return to action at 11 a.m. Sunday for a non-conference dual with 27th-ranked Tulane in New Orleans.

Singles

Doubles