Men's Tennis Defeats MTSU in Cross-town Showdown, 6-1 4/9/03

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The 8th-ranked Vanderbilt men's tennis team won its seventh match in its last eight outings, as it defeated cross-town rival Middle Tennessee State, 6-1, on Wednesday afternoon at River Rocks Raquet Club. The win improves the Commodores to 17-3 overall, while the Blue Raiders fall to 5-15.

Vanderbilt will now conclude its 2003 regular season this weekend, as it hosts 12th-ranked Kentucky at 2 p.m. Friday at the Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center. The Commodores will then hit the road for a showdown with the 13th-ranked Gamecocks of South Carolina at 1 p.m. (EST) in Columbia.

The Commodores got things going on Wednesday by winning its 16th doubles point in 19 attempts. Juniors Zach Dailey and Lewie Smith got things going my dismantling Kirk Jackson and Anant Sitaram at the No. 3 position, 8-1. The Commodores clinched the doubles point when junior Chad Harris and sophomore Matt Lockin defeated Trevor Short and Michael Staniak at the No. 2 spot, 8-6. Junior Bobby Reynolds and sophomore Scott Brown capped things off by defeating Daniel Klemetz and Brandon Allen, 8-6, at the top position. Vanderbilt is 8-0 in doubles matches since head coach Ken Flach switched to this doubles lineup.

The showcase match of the afternoon came at the No. 1 singles position, as the 15th-ranked Harris collided with the 20th-ranked Klemetz. This match displayed incredible baseline performances by both players. Harris was able to grab the first set, 6-4, after breaking Klemetz's serve late. Klemetz was able to battle back to grab the second set after stealing a break at 3-3.

With both players giving it their all in the final set, Harris grabbed a 5-3 lead and seemed to be on his way to victory, but Klemetz broke Harris' serve at love to get the match back on serve. Both players eventually made it to a third-set tiebreaker, which Klemetz was able to grab the early advantage and win, 7-2.

The No. 2-ranked Reynolds took an afternoon off from the top spot in the Commodores' lineup, as he took on Jackson at the No. 2 position. While Reynolds was suffering from a minor injury, he was still able to cruise by Jackson, 6-2, 6-3. With the win, Reynolds improves to 17-1 in dual matches.

Dailey continued his outstanding play as of late, as he had absolutely no problems in defeating Rishan Karuppu in under one hour, 6-0, 6-2. Dailey notched his 20th win of the year, while improving his dual-match record to 15-3.

Lockin, Brown and Smith kept things going at the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 positions, respectively. The 55th-ranked Lockin held off Staniak in three sets, while Brown had little problems with Sitaram and Smith edged out Short in three sets. Lockin, Brown and Smith have combined to win 39 dual matches in 2003.

Singles

Doubles