Men's Tennis Wins No. 5 Singles at SEC’s Vanderbilt Sunday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Suffering its first loss of the year, the Belmont University men's tennis team won at No. 5 singles in a 6-1 setback at nearby Southeastern Conference foe Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon. The Bruins (5-1) forced a pair of three-set singles matches but were unable to recover following the host Commodores (3-5) taking the coveted doubles point.
 
Vanderbilt gritted out consecutive 6-4 doubles wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions to go up 1-0 as junior Riccardo Trione and graduate student Marko Ilic were in a tight battle at the top doubles spot. The Commodores' Nathan Cox and Michael Ross defeated junior Alfred Wallin and senior Jack Randall at No. 2 doubles before Vanderbilt's Joubert Klopper and Macsen Sisam got past junior Tomas Luis and sophomore Ian Cruz at No. 3 doubles. Trione and Ilic were trailing the Commodores' Siim Troost and Paul Wang 5-4 at No. 1 doubles when the doubles point was clinched by the hosts.
 
After straight-set losses at three of the top four singles flights, Belmont trailed 4-0. However, the Bruins fought to the end at Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Pavilion with No. 2 and No. 5 singles going into third sets.
 
Ilic was competitive at the top singles spot, but fell 6-4, 6-4 to Klopper. At No. 6 singles, sophomore Gabriel Sardo also took eight games off his opponent but was topped 7-5, 6-3 by Vanderbilt's Mitchell Deames.
 
Battling back from a 6-2 opening set loss at No. 5 singles against Sisam, Trione evened the match with a 6-3 second set win. He then was triumphant in the decisive third set, 6-4.
 
Wallin, likewise, recovered from a 6-4 first set loss at No. 2 singles against Cox by winning set two, 6-1, before dropping the third, 6-2.
 
Up Next
Belmont continues its treacherous four-match road stretch next weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, where the Bruins will take on nationally-ranked Louisville Saturday afternoon before facing Bellarmine Sunday morning.
 
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