No. 13 Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis — with a three-game winning streak in tow — hit the road from April 4–6 for two road matches, where it narrowly lost to No. 1 Georgia 4-3 and defeated No. 18 South Carolina 5-2. Against Georgia, the results came down to the last singles match — Vanderbilt’s closest game all season. However, the Bulldogs escaped to keep their conference record untarnished. Against South Carolina, the Commodores rebounded and dominated to avoid a weekend sweep.
Vanderbilt vs. Georgia
Vanderbilt started the match by dropping the doubles point. The No. 12-ranked doubles team of Dasha Vidmanova and Mell Reasco defeated Vanderbilt’s Celia-Belle Mohr and Sophia Webster in a close match, 7-5. Then the No. 90 ranked Bulldog duo of Aysegul Mert and Hayden Mulberry came out on top, 6-1, against Amy Stevens and Sonya Macavei.
However, in singles, Vanderbilt attempted a comeback. First off the court in singles was No. 45 ranked Bridget Stammel, who defeated Reasco 6-3, 6-3 for Vanderbilt’s first point. But Georgia added another point to their total when No. 40 Mert defeated Webster 6-3, 6-4. Vanderbilt’s Stevens then defeated Sofia Rojas in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, followed by Trinetra Vijayakumar winning in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, for Vanderbilt’s second and third points. Georgia responded again, with No. 81 Anastasiia Lopata defeating No. 78 Valeria Ray 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and No. 1 Vidmanova closing out the game against No. 16 Mohr 4-6, 6-5, 7-4 and delivering the win for Georgia.
Vanderbilt vs. South Carolina
Vanderbilt started off against South Carolina by securing the doubles point. Stevens and Macavei defeated Misa Malkin and Lauren Friedman, 6-2. Then Ray and Stammel locked the doubles point with a win against Bella Larsson and Olympe Lancelot, 6-4.
In singles, Vanderbilt continued to dominate the match. Stevens was first off the court after defeating Friedman in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. Stammel followed with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Lancelot. The Gamecocks grabbed their first point of the match when No. 17 Sarah Hammer defeated Mohr 7-5, 6-1. Vijayakumar got the ‘Dores another point with a close win against Larsson 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, before South Carolina earned its second point with No. 59 Kaitlyn Carnicella defeating Ray 6-4, 7-6. Last off the court was Webster, who defeated No. 97 Malkin 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Vanderbilt will finish its regular season play with home matches against Kentucky on April 11 at 2 p.m. CDT and No. 6 Tennessee on April 13 at 1 p.m. CDT.
