No. 21 Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis participated in the ITA Kickoff Weekend tournament in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from Jan. 25 – 26. After losing 4-1 to the UCSB Gauchos, the Commodores soundly defeated the Yale Bulldogs 4-0 in the consolation round. Vanderbilt left the tournament with a 2-1 overall record after defeating SMU last weekend.
Vanderbilt struggled early on the first day in doubles against UCSB. Ali Benedetto and Emma Tutoveanu gave the Gauchos their first point against Vanderbilt, defeating Bridget Stammel and Valeria Ray 6-3. UCSB captured the doubles point with Lucy Lu and Lily Pradkin winning a close match, 7-5, against Amy Stevens and Trinetra Vijayakumar. This led to the ranked doubles matchup between Vanderbilt’s No. 11 Célia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster and UCSB’s No. 9 ranked doubles team of Amelia Honer and Marie Weissheim going unfinished, Vanderbilt ending ahead 6-5.
First off the court in singles was Vanderbilt’s No. 78 ranked Valeria Ray, defeating Ali Benedetto 6-3, 6-4 for Vanderbilt’s only win of the day. The next three singles matches all went in UCSB’s favor, finishing Vanderbilt’s day. Marie Weissheim defeated No. 26 Bridget Stammel 7-6, 6-3, and No. 16 Amelia Honer defeated senior Célia-Belle Mohr 7-5, 6-4. Then, to clinch the win for UCSB, Tyra Richardson defeated Trinetra Vijayakumar 7-6, 7-5. The two remaining singles matches were in their third set, with Sophia Webster ahead against UCSB’s Tutoveanu 5-4 and Amy Stevens and Lily Pradkin in a tied third set 5-5.
The second morning, however, the Commodores faced the Bulldogs and turned their weekend around. In their first time playing Yale since 2013, Vanderbilt quickly secured the doubles point when the No. 11 ranked Mohr and Webster handily defeated Yale’s Erin Ha and Orly Ogilvy 6-1. Then, Ray and Stammel defeated Yale’s Mirabelle Brettkelly and Shyla Aggarwal 7-5. The third doubles match was left unfinished, with Vanderbilt ahead 6-5.
In singles, Valeria Ray, the lone Vanderbilt player to win against UCSB, was first off the court after defeating Julia Werdiger 6-4, 6-1. First-year Sophia Webster downed Yale’s Rebecca Lynn 6-3, 6-1. To seal the win for Vanderbilt, Stammel defeated Ogilvy in three sets — 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Vanderbilt was ahead in two of the remaining unfinished singles matches and tied in one of them.
The Commodores’ next match is a doubleheader on Jan. 31 at home at 11 a.m. CST against Middle Tennessee and 4 p.m. CST against Bellarmine.
