NASHVILLE, Tenn. - No. 42 Middle Tennessee lost 5-1 to No. 44 Vanderbilt at the Currey Tennis Center on Friday afternoon.
The Blue Raiders fall to 3-2 while Vanderbilt improves to 3-2.
Ryan Lipman and Rhys Johnson defeated MT's Yannick Born and Marlon Brand 8-4 in No. 1 doubles, while Austin Gonzales and Marc van der Merwe picked up a victory over Christoph Lang and Victor Cornea, 8-6.
In No. 3 doubles, MT's Ben Davis and David Fox teamed up for their first doubles victory of the season, defeating VU's Jeff Offerdahl and Suresh Eswaran, 8-7, in the third match of the day.
With MT trailing 1-0 headed into singles play, MT's Ben Davis took on his third top 50 ITA opponent in the past week as he faced No. 20 ranked Gonzales in Flight 1 singles. Davis, ranked 101st, was defeated 6-2, 6-3.
Cornea played Flight 2 singles for the first time this season, taking on 17th-ranked Lipman. Cornea lost 6-3, 6-1.
Lang picked up MT's first victory of the day. He defeated Johnson 6-4, 6-3 in the third flight of singles.
MT's Born squared off against VU's Offerdahl in the fourth singles match of the day, losing 6-4, 6-3.
Facing van der Merwe in Flight 5 singles, Ettore Zito lost the first set 4-6, but battled throughout the second, eventually reaching a 6-6 tie. VU's van der Merwe won the match in a 10-8 tie-breaker.
The final match of the day pitted MT's Fox versus VU's Kris Yee (Ranked 114th). The match was left unfinished, but Yee won the first set, 6-3.
Lady Vols Drop Tough Decision to Michigan
KNOXVILLE - Despite earning its first doubles point of the season, the No. 25 University of Tennessee women's tennis team fell Friday afternoon to No. 16 University of Michigan 4-3 at the Varsity Tennis Center.
"We competed today," said co-head coach Mike Patrick. "Tiffany [Tavares], Jo [Joanna Henderson], and Kata [Szekely] battled in their matches, but they just outplayed us at one and three. We are not pleased with the outcome, but we played well, we played hard, and did some positive things so hopefully we can carry that over to Sunday's match at Notre Dame."
The Lady Vols got out to an early lead as 12th ranked Brynn Boren and Kata Szekely defeated No. 21 Brooke Bolender and Ronit Yurovsky 8-5 at No. 1 singles while No. 41 Caitlyn Williams and Joanna Henderson took down Sarah Lee and Mimi Nguyen 8-3 on court two.
Boren and Szekely's doubles victory over Bolender and Yurovsky was the second of the season for the duo as they took down the Michigan twosome back on Oct. 5 at the ITA All-American Championships.
Michigan took a lead of their own as Bolender defeated Williams at No. 3 singles 6-1, 6-3 to begin singles play followed by an Emina Bektas victory at No. 1 singles over Boren, 6-4, 6-1.
The Wolverines extended their lead as No. 25 Szekely fell at No. 2 singles to No. 61 Yurovsky in a tough 7-6 (6), 6-4 battle and clinched the win as Lee defeated Henderson at No. 4 singles in a three set battle 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.
The Lady Vols did capture the victories at No. 5 and No. 6 singles as Mimi Fotopoulos returned at the five-spot for the win while Tiffany Tavares bested No. 94 Amy Zhu in a comeback 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory, her first win over a ranked opponent.
The Lady Vols will look to bounce back when they head to No. 18 Notre Dame on Sunday, February 3 in a match that will begin at 9:00 a.m.
Arkansas Takes Out Army in Doubleheader
FAYETTEVILLE - The No. 56 Arkansas men's tennis team collected two victories over Army in a doubleheader match at Dills Indoor Tennis Facility, Friday afternoon. The Razorbacks took the first match 6-1 and the second 5-1 to improve their record to 6-1 this season.
"We had a good day today," head coach Robert Cox said. "We were tested in doubles play, but our guys showed composure and came out on top."
In the first match, senior Gregoire Lehmann dominated court one defeating Asika Isoh in straight sets. Jovan Parlic, Hall Fess and Victor Hoang all won in straight sets to give Arkansas three points.
Mike Ward had the most exciting match of the day against Peter Sienko. Ward and Sienko went into three tiebreakers including the last set where Ward took the match winning 11-9.
Arkansas won two out of the three doubles matches taking the doubles point. Junior Hall Fess and Ward played solid on court one taking down Rashad Shelton and Austin McCassin 8-4. Both court two and three went into a tie breaker with Army. Pete Thomason and Christian Lee won their tie breaker to clinch the doubles point.
In the second match of the day, junior Manfred Jeske eased through his singles match taking down Harrison McCormmick on court two 6-1, 6-3.
Lee got his third singles victory in dual play this season defeating Ben Davies in straight sets. Fess clinched the win for the Razorbacks with his tie breaker win over 6-2, 7-6 on court three.
After dropping the first set, Hoang recovered winning the second and taking the third-set tie break 10-8. Thomason closed out the match collecting a three-set victory over Austin McCassin.
Arkansas will be back in action on Sunday hosting No. 37 Minnesota. Sunday is also Kids Days; every kid that comes to the match will receive a free t-shirt. There will also be free pizza for fans, while available.
To keep up with the Arkansas men's tennis team, visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com and follow @RazorbackMTEN on Twitter.