Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis played its first team scoring event of the season against SMU on Jan. 20, displaying strong singles play en route to a 5-2 win. What originally was supposed to be a home doubleheader was shortened due to weather concerns, as the scheduled match against Western Kentucky was postponed.
Vanderbilt got off to a rough start in doubles after SMU’s Drew Morris and Arianna Stavropoulos defeated Sonya Macavei and Trinetra Vijayakumar handily, 6-2. The early struggles continued for the Commodores with doubles pairing Valeria Ray and Bridget Stammel falling to the Mustangs’ Sophie Llewellyn and Ellie Pittman, 3-6. With these two victories, SMU collected the doubles point. However, Vanderbilt’s No. 11 ranked doubles pairing in Célia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster successfully avoided a doubles sweep by closing out their match with a 6-2 win against June Björk and Caroline McGinley.
The Commodores fought back in singles play and gained back the point lost in the doubles round. First-year Vijayakumar started the Commodore comeback by downing Llewellyn 6-3, 6-0 to give Vanderbilt its first point of the match. Macavei then notched a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Björk to put the Commodores up 2-1. No. 26 Stammel faced stronger opposition in SMU’s Pittman but still secured a two-set win with a 6-4, 6-4 score.
The match-clinching point came from No. 78 Ray, who persevered through a first-set defeat en route to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory. Mohr similarly battled back from a 4-6 first set, ultimately triumphing over Morris 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. SMU’s sole singles point was won by Millie Skelton, who outlasted first-year Webster 6-2, 2-6, 10-8 to wrap up the final match.
The 1-0 Commodores return to action against UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. CST on Jan. 25 at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan.