Vanderbilt men's tennis record, advances to quarterfinals

GAINESVILLE, Fla. Florida Gators Men's Tennis defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores in the first round of the SEC Championship Tournament, 4-2. The win sends the Gators to the quarterfinals of the 23 tournament^rd consecutive year.

How it happened

The Gators dropped the doubles point to start the match, dropping sets on courts one and two. Vanderbilt took a 3-1 lead at one and two, and would maintain those margins for the rest of the set, with Vandy's Casabon/Cox winning court one 6-4 and Klopper/Ross winning court two 6-2.

In singles play Tanapatt Nirundorn collected the first point for Florida, beating Michael Ross of Vanderbilt on court five. After trailing 2-0 in the second set, Nirundorn won six of the seven games to finish the set, and his opponent, with a 6-3 scoreline. Nirundorn extends his streak of singles matches without a loss to seven straight matches, including five wins in that stretch.

Nate Bonetto shined in his return to the court at three positions, dominating Vanderbilt's Jeremy Casabon to a 6-4, 6-3 score. The first set was a battle, but Bonetto secured an early break point and maintained his lead to take a first set win. In set two, the junior was able to claim a 3-0 lead to open, and he kept that margin to seal Florida's second point.

Adhitya Ganesan took Florida's first lead of the match with its 7-5, 6-1 on court four. Ganesan went game by game before securing a late break point to take a 6-5 lead and hold serve to win set one. He kept that momentum going and ran away with the second set, closing his match with an impressive 6-1 second set.

Aidan Kim opened the singles match by dropping a 3-6 first set to Nathan Cox of Vanderbilt. Kim returned with a vengeance, scoring an easy 6-2 second set to force a third. Kim again ran away with the set and eventually led 5-1 in set three. Cox fought valiantly to reach a 5-4 scoreline before Kim held serve to claim court two and a 4-2 match victory to send Florida to the quarterfinals

Next one

The Gators will face Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the SEC Championship Tournament. The match kicks off at 3:00 PM ET in Baton Rouge. Tennessee claimed victory over the Gators this season on March 10, when Tennessee claimed a 6-1 win in Knoxville.

From Head Coach Adam Steinberg
About the game and his team's comeback victory

“It's like the expression 'survive and advance.' That's exactly what we did. That's a very good team, they're very strong, they make a lot of shots. We knew that was the first time for a lot of these guys, playing in the postseason, which I'm proud of. After doubles, we're in five of the six singles matches, we're there. Great effort, great, hard-fought win. We're looking forward to playing tomorrow.

Results

Singles competition
1. #61 Danil Panarin (VUM) def. #52 Jeremy Jin (UF) 6-3, 6-1
2. Aidan Kim (UF) final Nathan Cox (VUM) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
3. Nate Bonetto (UF) final Jeremy Casabon (VUM) 6-4, 6-3
4. Adhitya Ganesan (UF) final Joubert Klopper (VUM) 7-5, 6-1
5. Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) final Michael Ross (VUM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Kevin Edengren (UF) vs. Hugo Coquelin (VUM) 6-1, 5-7, 5-1, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Jeremy Casabon/Nathan Cox (VUM) def. #23 Nate Bonetto/Aidan Kim (UF) 6-4
2. Joubert Klopper/Michael Ross (VUM) def. #69 Tanapatt Nirundorn/Adhitya Ganesan (UF) 6-2
3. Kevin Edengren/Jeremy Jin (UF) vs. Danil Panarin/Hugo Coquelin (VUM) 4-4, unfinished

Match Notes:
Vanderbilt Men's Tennis 13-12; National ranking #40
Florida 13-10; National Ranking #25
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,5,3,4,2)

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