Michigan Upsets Vanderbilt!

      Down 3-0 in the match, the Michigan men’s tennis team had their backs against the wall against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville, Tennessee. The Commodores had won the doubles point and the first two singles matches to take a 3-0 lead over the Wolverines. Michigan would need every remaining singles players to play their hearts out if they wanted to pull an amazing come-from-behind victory. Alex Petrone put Michigan on the board first, after defeating Anton Kovrigin 7-6, 6-4. At No. 3 singles, Petrone was off to a bad start, getting broken in his second service game. However, he broke back late in the set and managed to force it to a tiebreaker. In the second set, it was Petrone’s turn for an early break. He used the break to his advantage and won the set and match. Evan King was the next Wolverine to finish. After cruising to an easy 6-2 first set lead, King had trouble finding his game in the second set. Vanderbilt’s Charlie Jones would not go down easily as he responded with a 6-1 victory in the second set. However, King used his experience to regain confidence as he defeated Jones 6-3 in the third set to score another point for Michigan.                                                                                                                                    It was now up to Michigan’s sophomore duo, Barrett Franks and Alex Buzzi, to keep the Wolverine’s hope for victory alive. At No. 5 singles, Franks jumped ahead 4-2. However, Commodores’ Joe Dorn took control of the set as he came back from the deficit and won the first set 6-4. However, Frank did not let his game falter as he managed to take the second set 6-4. The match had come down to a decisive third set. Franks battled his way to a 7-5 win and allowed the Wolverines to tie the game three matches apiece. The pressure was on Buzzi as he went to work against Vanderbilt’s Alex DiValerio. Buzzi was able to take the first set with minimal effort as he won the first set 6-3. He would not let his game falter in the second set, winning it 6-2 and completed Michigan’s amazing comeback. With this win, the Wolverines are now 5-4 on the season. The win was Buzzi’s second of the season at No. 6 singles, and was Michigan’s fifth, but first on the road. Michigan will continue a stretch of matches away from Ann Arbor when they travel to Hawaii to face the Rainbow Warriors for the second straight season this Thursday.