With the fall tennis season in full swing, Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis retook the courts, competing in the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championship hosted by Middle Tennessee State University. Eight Commodores found the court in doubles or singles play over the week. Overall, the team showed improvement, as most players pushed past the round of 64. The star athlete for the Commodores was No. 34 junior Bridget Stammel. Stammel secured the singles title while also making a deep push into the doubles tournament with her partner Valeria Ray. Outside of Stammel’s impressive personal performance, the team saw many first-years triumph over their opponents, illuminating a hopeful future.

Singles

Junior Naomi Katz and first-year Trinetra Vijayakumar played in the tournament’s qualifying draw. Katz fell 2-6, 4-6 to Louisville’s Elena Noguero. Vijayakumar, however, dominated against North Kentucky’s Darya Gneidina and Miami’s Emilia Valetinsson, advancing her to the main draw. 

In the main draw, Vijayakumar joined fellow first-year Sophia Webster, Sonya Macavei, Amy Stevens, Ray and Stammel. Macavei and Stevens fell against their first opponents, 3-6, 5-7 and 5-7, 0-6, respectively. Despite winning her first match against Tennessee’s Maeve Thornton 6-3, 6-2, Vijayakumar was outlasted by Kentucky’s Zoe Hammond, losing 6-3, 1-6, 4-6. 

Three Commodores shined into the round of 16 before Webster, a former blue-chip recruit, fell to East Tennessee’s Daniela Rivera 5-7, 2-6. Despite her teammate’s loss, Ray dominated until the quarter-finals, dispatching challengers from Louisville, Xavier and Tennessee. The Volunteers’ Catherine Aulia got revenge for her teammate when she squashed Ray’s hot streak in a tight battle, 6(3)-7, 7-5, 5-7. 

In this tournament’s struggle between the Volunteers and Commodores, the Commodores came out on top when Stammel — the tournament’s No. 2 seeded player — prevailed against Auila. Stammel avenged her teammate in fantastic fashion: 7-6(5), 6(4)-7, 6-3. However, this semifinal win for Stammel was even sweeter because Aulia had taken her down in January during the ITA Kickoff Weekend.

“It was a rematch and this time Bridget [Stammel] came out on the other side of a very high-quality match from both players,” head coach Alexes Tsoubanos said after Stammel’s win. “I’m excited for her to play in the championship tomorrow and to compete in her first NCAA Singles Championships in November.”

After taking down Aulia, Stammel faced Purdue’s Carmen Gallardo Guevera in the finals. While the first set was close, with Stammel winning 7-5, the second showcased Stammel’s closing prowess as she steamed her way to a 6-2 victory. By securing this win, she punched herself a ticket to the Nov. 19-24 NCAA Singles Championship hosted by Baylor University. 

Doubles

Vanderbilt’s four teams had an underwhelming run in the doubles tournament. This week’s duos were Vijayakumar and Macavei, Stammel and Ray, Stevens and Katz and Célia-Belle Mohr and Webster. The No. 29 team in the country — Mohr and Sophia Webster — were slated to reach deeper stages, but an injury hampered the expected outcome. Their doubles match was retired in favor of Austin Peay State’s Pauline Burns and Luca Bohlen. The other three Black and Gold teams fared somewhat better, making it to the round of 32. Despite their first-round success, Stevens and Katz also had their tournament cut short with a walkover illness. After handily beating the other Austin Peay team of Elena Thiel and Alice Bolton 8-2, Vijayakumar and Macavei’s early successes evaporated when they lost to Ball State 6-8. 

While the rest of their team’s performance was mired with unfortunate circumstances, Ray and Stammel added to their stellar showings, as they started doubles play by handing Northern Kentucky an 8-1 defeat. They followed it up with an 8-3 victory over Tennessee State and an 8-4 triumph over Louisville, advancing them to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, they fell to Tennessee in a close 7(6)-8, ending the duo’s run and the Commodores’ tournament. 

The Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis team will play next from Oct. 25-27, when they host the June Stewart Invitational at home in Nashville.