WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Vanderbilt men’s tennis notched multiple victories on Friday, sending four players in singles and one doubles pair into the weekend at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships hosted by Purdue.
Friday opened with early doubles matchups. The No. 86 ranked duo of Hugo Coquelin and Henry Ruger, fresh off a round of 16 run at All-Americans, faced Louisville’s Evan Duggal and Russell Lokko. The Dores took a competitive 8-5 match win in an attempt to make another doubles tournament run.
Senior pair Nathan Cox and Michael Ross, winners of the SEC Challenge to begin the season, matched up against Martin Garcia-Ripoll Ore and Francisco Lamas of East Tennessee State. The Commodore duo defeated opponents from Butler in the yesterday’s opening doubles round. Cox and Ross were unable to continue their winning ways on Friday, however, falling to Ore and Lamas 8-6. Tighe Brunetti and Giuseppe Cerasuolo came into Friday after defeating Lipscomb’s Facundo Perlov and Henrique Ushizima in their first match. They drew a conference matchup versus Matthew Rankin and Eli Stephenson of Kentucky. The Dores were unable to sustain a lead and suffered an 8-4 defeat, bowing out of the tournament.
In singles play, Vanderbilt put together an efficient showing. The Commodores captured wins in three of the four singles matches completed on Friday. Coquelin avenged his teammates’ doubles loss against East Tennessee State’s Ore, downing the Buccaneer in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. Freshman Dylan Charlap secured a back-and-forth match against Cortland Grove of Chattanooga, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Ruger added to the Dores’ singles results with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Dayton’s Sturle Hoff Skigelstrand. Freshman Callum Markowitz fought back versus Patrick Joss of Butler after a 6-3 first set loss, taking the second set 6-2. The effort was not enough, however, and Joss pulled away in the third set 6-1 to claim the match. Ross advanced in singles due to opponent withdrawal.
Vanderbilt begins play tomorrow at 8 a.m. CT in the doubles round of 16. Singles play is set to start later in the afternoon.