Two home wins over the weekend have given Vanderbilt a winning record, but they didn't come easy.
The No. 28 Commodores defeated Middle Tennessee State Saturday 5-2, placing them at a 4-2 overall record after a 7-0 Friday win over Memphis and putting them good position for the next part of their schedule.
Vanderbilt got off to a quick start, with freshman Charlie Jones (6-1, 6-3) and sophomore Bryant Salcedo (1-6, 6-2, 2-0) winning the first two matches. MTSU didn't go away quietly, however, after two straight matches fell to the Blue Raiders. The next match went to the Commodores. With the match at 3-2 overall, Vanderbilt sophomore Alex Zotov sealed the deal with a victory over MTSU's Kyle Wishing (6-2,6-2).
Meanwhile sophomore Adam Baker rallied against MTSU's Morgan Richard in an exciting tie breaker match (6-2, 5-7, 7-6, (7-5)). In the tiebreaker series, Baker battled back from two match points to win 7-5. According to Baker
"The pressure was really off when Alex won his match," Baker said.
MTSU came into Nashville looking to win, and gave Vanderbilt a harder fight than expected.
"It was a tricky match to play. We didn't expect them to come out like they did," Baker said.
Although the Commodores came out on top, Vanderbilt coach Ian Duvenhage could have been happier with how it happened.
"I'm not all that happy with the how [we won]," Duvenhage said. "We pride ourselves on being cool under pressure and not being rattled because you make your best decisions that way. In all fairness, it wasn't an easy match to play, but we have to do better."
With the toughest part of their schedule coming up (No. 17 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Texas, and No. 7 Florida among them), Duvenhage is remaining focused on what his team needs to do to improve.
"I don't worry a whole lot about other teams," he said. "I just spend all of my energy trying to get my guys to do the things as well as we can."
Vanderbilt hardly gets a reprieve when it next faces Louisville at home on Feb. 22
"They are clearly a tough team," Duvenhage said. " We're going to have to be ready to play."
