Arkansas Defeats Vandy 4-3 in First Round
4/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA ?? The Arkansas Razorbacks advanced to the second round of the 2006 SEC Tennis Tournament Thursday morning with a hard-fought 4-3 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores.
“That was just a great college tennis match,” Arkansas head coach Robert Cox said, “something you hear about all the time.”
Vanderbilt claimed the doubles point from Arkansas and took the early 1-0 lead. The two teams then battled neck-and-neck the rest of the way.
Vanderbilt led 3-2 in the match and needed just one more win to pull the upset. However Arkansas’ Rohan Gajjar evened the match at 3-all with a 7-6, 6-2 win at No. 3 and decision was left up to the result on Court 4.
Arkansas’ Blake Strode claimed the first set 7-6 and the second set remained on served and moved into a tiebreaker as well. Strode took a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak before Nathan Sachs stormed back to even the set. However Strode broke Sachs serve for 6-5 lead and served out for the win.
“You had two teams out there today that were very evenly matched and it was tough,” Cox said. “Vanderbilt had a lot of resolve, and Coach Duvenhage has done an incredible job only having six players to work with. I feel very fortunate to get out of there with a win and I would have been satisfied with a loss.”
Arkansas advances to play Ole Miss in the second round Friday at 10 a.m.
Tennis Match Results
Vanderbilt vs Arkansas
Apr 20, 2006 at Tuscaloosa
#22 Arkansas 4, #67 Vanderbilt 3
Singles competition
1. #60 Ryan Preston (VAN) def. #19 Adrians Zguns (ARK) 6-3, 6-2
2. #72 Matt Roberts (ARK) def. Evan Dufaux (VAN) 6-2, 6-4
3. Rohan Gajjar (ARK) def. Andy Mack (VAN) 7-6, 6-2
4. Blake Strode (ARK) def. Nathan Sachs (VAN) 7-6, 7-6 (7-5)
5. Nick Cromydas (VAN) def. Colin Mascall (ARK) 6-3, 6-0
6. Michael Jung (ARK) def. Jordan Magarik (VAN) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Rohan Gajjar/Matt Roberts (ARK) def. Evan Dufaux/Andy Mack (VAN) 8-3
2. Ryan Preston/Jordan Magarik (VAN) def. #59 Adrians Zguns/Blake Strode (ARK) 8-6
3. Nathan Sachs/Nick Cromydas (VAN) def. Colin Mascall/Austin King (ARK) 8-5
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 7-14, 2-9; National ranking #67
Arkansas 17-8, 6-5; National ranking #22
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (5,2,6,1,3,4)
Arkansas advances to play Ole Miss Friday at 10 a.m.
Arkansas Head Coach Robert Cox
“That was just a great college tennis match, something you hear about all the time. But this conference has some great teams in it and it doesn't matter if you're playing the number one team or the last place team. You had two teams out there today that were very evenly matched and it was tough. They have a lot of resolve, and coach Duvenhage has done an incredible job only having six players to work with, which makes things very difficult. I feel very fortunate to get out of there with a win and I would have been satisfied with a loss.”
“Playing a good team like Ole Miss is a monumental task. I think it's been as far back as 1991 since the razorbacks were victorious over the Rebels and we'll try to climb the mountain.”
