After a successful regular season, in which Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis went 11-4 in the SEC, the Commodores were given the No. 15 overall seed and hosting privileges in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Regional featured Xavier, UCLA, Harvard and Vanderbilt. The Commodores conquered a strong Xavier squad 4-0 in the opening round but fell to UCLA 4-3 in heartbreaking fashion in Round Two. 

Round One: Xavier

The Commodores secured a 4-0 sweep of the Xavier Musketeers to begin their NCAA Tournament run. 

In doubles, junior Sonya Macavei and senior Amy Stevens provided an early spark for the team, defeating Emily Flowers and Natalie Smitek, 6-0. It was the pair’s fourth straight victory together. This easy first victory gave the Commodores the early momentum, as the newly ranked pair of sophomore Valeria Ray and junior Bridget Stammel — entering the matchup at No. 76 — finished off the doubles point by defeating Elizabeth Pendergast and Madeleine Rexroat, 6-4. 

Vanderbilt carried this momentum into singles play. The Commodores won the first set in three of the five matches. First-year Trinetra Vijayakumar, playing at No. 4, got the second point of the day for Vanderbilt, dominating Flowers 6-1, 6-0 in a convincing win. Stammel then beat Rexroat 6-2, 6-1 to earn the third point of the day, while star senior Célia-Belle Mohr finished off the Musketeers with a win over Pendergast, 6-2, 6-3. 

Vanderbilt successfully ended Xavier’s nine-match win streak in dominating fashion. 

Doubles
1. No. 9 Mohr/Sophia Webster (Vanderbilt) vs. No. 63 Abby Nugent/Clara Owen (Xavier) 4-5, unfinished
2. No. 76 Ray/Stammel (Vanderbilt) def. Pendergast/Rexroat (Xavier) 6-4
3. Macavei/Stevens (Vanderbilt) def. Flowers/Smitek (Xavier) 6-0

Singles
1. No. 5 Mohr (Vanderbilt) def. Pendergast (Xavier) 6-2, 6-3
2. No. 70 Ray (Vanderbilt) vs. Nugent (Xavier) 2-6, 5-3, unfinished
3. No. 54 Stammel (Vanderbilt) def. Rexroat (Xavier) 6-2, 6-1
4. Vijayakumar (Vanderbilt) def. Flowers (Xavier) 6-1, 6-0
5. Webster (Vanderbilt) vs. Abigail Siminski (Xavier) 4-6, 1-2, unfinished
6. Stevens (Vanderbilt) vs. Owen (Xavier) 0-2, unfinished

Round Two: UCLA

Vanderbilt battled all the way to the end in its second round matchup with No. 17 UCLA. The match came down to a single point on the final court, but the Commodores were unable to advance to the next round of the NCAA Tournament, falling 4-3 to the Bruins. 

Vanderbilt fell into an early hole by losing the doubles point. Vanderbilt’s Ray and Stammel took down No. 11 Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, 6-2 — the pair’s highest ranked win this season. However, the Commodores’ two other doubles pairs never gained momentum and fell to a strong set of UCLA duos. This meant Vanderbilt would need to win four of the six remaining singles matches to take down UCLA. 

To start singles play, momentum was on Vanderbilt’s side, as it took the first set lead in four of the first five matches. Mohr put the Commodores on the board with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 31 Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, while Vijayakumar defeated her opponent 7-5, 6-4 to give Vanderbilt the 2-1 lead. 

The Bruins earned two victories over Ray and Stammel to take back the lead, 3-2. However, this momentum was short lived as Stevens beat Center to even the match score at 3-3. It all came down to Webster to earn Vanderbilt its fourth and final point. Taking a 5-3 lead in the third set, the true freshman seemed poised to clinch the victory for the Commodores. However, UCLA’s Ahmani Guichard hung around and took the match to a tiebreak. Webster eventually fell 8-6 in the tiebreak, giving UCLA the victory. 

“Just a tough, tough outcome today,” head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said. “Obviously the match was as competitive as advertised and I congratulate UCLA; they fought hard and got through the finish line. I’ve said at least once this year it isn’t often both teams have points to clinch a dual match, so it was going to end in heartbreak for somebody and, unfortunately, it was us today. The result stings for sure, but it doesn’t take away from how proud I am of what this group has accomplished this season.”

Doubles
1. No. 14 Kimmi Hance/Elise Wagle (UCLA) def. No. 9 Mohr/Webster (Vanderbilt) 6-3
2. No. 76 Ray/Stammel (Vanderbilt) def. No. 11 Center/Fakih (UCLA) 6-2
3. Guichard/Lutkemeyer (UCLA) def. Sonya Macavei/Stevens (Vanderbilt) 7-5

Singles
1. No. 5 Mohr (Vanderbilt) def. No. 31 Lutkemeyer (UCLA) 6-4, 6-2
2. No. 93 Hance (UCLA) def. No. 70 Ray (Vanderbilt) 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0
3. No. 62 Wagle (UCLA) def. No. 54 Stammel (Vanderbilt) 6-3, 7-6 (3)
4. Vijayakumar (Vanderbilt) def. No. 39 Fakih (UCLA) 7-5, 6-4
5. Guichard (UCLA) def. Webster (Vanderbilt) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
6. Stevens (Vanderbilt) def. Center (UCLA) 6-3, 6-2