Blue Raiders Fall to No. 23 Vanderbilt

Friday, February 6

Nashville, TN

2:00 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

Vanderbilt University

2/6/2015 5:48:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: @MTAthletics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee dropped its first away match of the season with a 6-1 loss to No. 23 Vanderbilt on Friday afternoon.

Doubles action was very competitive to start the day, although the Blue Raiders were unable to secure the point after Yannick Born and Victor Hoang fell 7-5 at the No. 1 spot against No. 5 nationally ranked doubles pair Gonzales Austin and Rhys Johnson and Dima Zyhmantovich and Robin Riethmueller fell 6-2 at the No. 3 doubles spot.

As singles action began Gian Issa was unable to capitalize at the No. 5 spot as he fell 6-2, 6-2 to Vandy's Baker Newman.

Ben Davis represented the Blue Raiders at the No. 1 singles spot and took on the 10^th ranked Gonzales Austin before falling 2-6, 6-7 with a battle in the second set.

Ettore Zito, Zyhmantovich, Hoang and Riethmueller were able to drag both of their singles matches to three sets.

On the fourth court, Hoang took the first set 6-3 before falling shy on the next two to finish 6-3, 1-6, 3-6 to put the Commodores up 4-0 and clinch the match.

Zyhmantovich started strong as well with a 6-3 win in the first set at No. 3 singles. His opponent, Kris Lee took the next two sets 6-2, 6-2.

Zito squared off against another nationally ranked player in Vanderbilt's Rhys Johnson who is 73^rd in the country. After dropping the first set 4-6, Zito came back to take the second set 6-3 but fell in the final set 2-6.

Riethmueller finished the match at the No. 6 singles spot vs, Suresh Eswaran where he easily took the first set 6-1 before losing the second set 3-6. Riethmueller broke the tie and grabbed the Blue Raiders lone point in the match with a 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (13) win.

The Blue Raiders next match is against a team that is tied at No. 23 nationally with Vanderbilt as MT squares off against South Carolina on Feb. 13.

RESULTS
Vanderbilt 6, MTSU 1
Doubles
Finish: (3, 1)
1) No. 5 Gonzales Austin/Rhys Johnson (VU) def. Yannick Born/Victor Hoang (MTSU); 7-5
2) Baker Newman/Ryan Smith (VU) vs. Ettore Zito/Ben Davis (MTSU); 4-4
3) Suresh Eswaran/Daniel Valent (VU) def. Dima Zyhmantovich/Robin Riethmeller (MTSU); 6-2

Singles
Finish: (5, 1, 4, 3, 2, 6)
1) No. 10 Gonzales Austin (VU) def. Ben Davis (MTSU); 6-2, 7-6 (6)
2) Rhys Johnson (VU) def. Ettore Zito (MTSU); 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
3) Kris Yee (VU) def. Dima Zyhmantovich (MTSU); 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
4) Daniel Valent (VU) def. Victor Hoang (MTSU); 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
5) Baker Newman (VU) def. Gian Issa (MTSU); 6-2, 6-2
6) Robin Riethmueller (MTSU) def. Suresh Eswaran (VU); 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (13)