No. 31 Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis hit the road for matches against No. 47 Northwestern and Missouri from Feb. 21–23. Head coach Aleke Tsoubanos’ team brought its A-game throughout the weekend, beating both squads to extend its winning streak to six.
Feb. 21 vs. Northwestern
The Commodores kicked off the weekend with a showdown against the 47th-ranked Wildcats in Evanston, Illinois.
Vanderbilt swept Northwestern in doubles play, as Bridget Stammel and Sonya Macavei cruised to a 6-2 win over Erica Jessel and Sydney Pratt, while Célia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster defeated Britany Lau and Mika Dagan Fruchtman, 6-4. Valeria Ray and Trineta Vijayakumar’s match remained unfinished, but the Black and Gold duo held a 5-4 lead over Neena Feldman and Kiley Rabjohns when play was halted.
In singles play, No. 46 Mohr overpowered Jessel to a 6-2, 6-0 win, putting the Commodores at three points on the day. Resisting defeat, Northwestern responded with a win of its own, as Pratt defeated Macavei in a 6-2, 6-3 contest. No. 41 Stammel answered with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Lau. Despite Feldman’s 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Webster, Ray’s thrilling three-set (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) win against Fruchtman clinched the match for the Commodores.
“I give Northwestern a lot of credit. They competed very well to start off singles and nearly took five out of six first sets against us,” Tsoubanos said following the match.
Mohr and Stammel’s successes were pivotal to Vanderbilt’s win.
“[Mohr] did a great job of taking care of her match pretty efficiently, and [Stammel] fought back to get her first set, which was huge to slow down their momentum,” Tsoubanos said.
Tsoubanos also liked the momentum the Northwestern win gave her team as it rounded out nonconference play.
“It’s certainly a good feeling to end nonconference competition on a high note. We look forward to starting SEC play on Sunday,” the Commodores’ coach said.
Feb. 23 vs. Missouri
Vanderbilt then traveled to Columbia, Missouri, to take on the Tigers in its SEC opener.
The Commodores’ doubles teams picked up right where they left off, as Ray and Vijayakumar sliced and diced their way to a 6-2 win over Lailaa Bashir and Gian Octa. Macavei and Stammel doubled down with a 6-2 defeat of Andrea Artimedi and Mary Brumfield. Mohr and Webster’s match went unfinished, but the Black and Gold tandem held a decisive 5-2 lead against Inah Canete and Korina Roso when play was stopped.
Singles play continued in this dominant fashion, with Stammel and Mohr overwhelming Octa and Canete in 6-0, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-2 stompings, respectively. Macavei then defeated Artimedi in a 6-1, 6-2 contest, and No. 94 Ray kept the ball rolling with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Bashir. Webster convincingly beat Sarah Hartel 6-1, 6-4, and Vijayakumar capped off the day with a nail-biting (3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (14-12)) victory against Roso. The Commodores left Columbia with a 7-0 shutout in their first SEC match of the season.
The No. 31 Commodores will look to grab their seventh consecutive win when they face Mississippi State in Music City on Feb. 28.
