No. 12 Vanderbilt (6-2) secured a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship after earning victories over Notre Dame and then-No. 7 Michigan at ITA Kickoff Weekend in late January. The tournament took place in Illinois and followed a single-elimination format but guaranteed at least three matches for each program. Vanderbilt captured one of the two No. 6 seeds and was matched up against No. 2 Texas A&M in the first round.
Texas A&M
The Commodores faced their toughest challenge of the season on Friday against the Aggies. Texas A&M’s Lucciana Perez and Mia Kupres defeated the No. 3-ranked duo of Sophia Webster and Celia Belle-Mohr, 6-4, to commence doubles play.
Vanderbilt’s No. 14 tandem of Bridget Stammel and Valeria Ray evened the score with a 6-4 victory over Violeta Martinez and Anna Pearlman. The doubles point came down to No. 49 Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita against Lexington Reed and Daria Smetannikov. The freshman duo came up just short, losing 6-4, conceding the doubles point over to the Aggies.
Pearce and No. 40 Stammel took care of business in singles, winning 6-2, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-4, respectively, while No. 15 Ray lost in straight sets. With the match tied up at 2-2, the outcome came down to the last three singles matches. Yamakita fell just short, losing 7-5, 6-3 to Martinez, which gave the Aggies a 3-2 lead. No. 46 Kupres clinched the victory for Texas A&M in a hard-fought three-set battle, beating Mohr 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.
“Today was disappointing in terms of the outcome,” head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said. “I think we’re a better team than the one that was out there today. Credit to Texas A&M, they competed really well and pulled through some matches that were tight.”
This 4-2 opening round defeat eliminated Vanderbilt from the main draw, sending the Black and Gold into the consolation bracket, where they matched up with Texas on Saturday.
Texas
Tsoubanos and company came out strong against No. 18 Texas, with Stammel and Ray rallying back from their loss to Texas A&M by beating Elizabeth Ionescu and Carmen Andreea Herea 6-4. Yamakita and Pearce lost 7-5 before Mohr and Webster clinched the doubles point with a 7-5 win over Christasha McNeil and Salma Drugdova.
“The team responded really well in doubles today from yesterday’s match,” Tsoubanos said. “I think we played more aggressively, in the way we’ve played starting out this year, and we were rewarded with getting that doubles point.”
The Commodores looked to capitalize off the doubles point but suffered four straight losses in singles. Texas’ No. 2 McNiel topped Yamakita, 6-1, 6-2 to tie the match at 1-1. The other five singles matches all entered third sets, but Vanderbilt dropped three straight to seal the 4-1 victory for Texas A&M. Ionescu, Herea and No. 63 Anastasia Abbagnato prevailed over Pearce (6-1, 3-6, 6-2), Ray (6-4, 2-6, 6-3) and Stammel (3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4)), respectively.
“It definitely feels like some learning and growing are going to need to come from today, Tsoubanos said. “But again, the great thing about this tournament is that we still have another opportunity.”
Illinois
Vanderbilt kicked off its third match of the weekend at the Atkins Tennis Center against Illinois, looking to rebound from tough losses on Friday and Saturday.
Stammel and Ray defeated Ariel Madatali and Cara Mester 6-2, while Yamakita and Pearce outlasted Kimiko Cooper and Lizzie Isyanov by the same score. The win marked the Commodores’ second doubles victory of the weekend.
Webster was the first to finish in singles, besting Cara Mester, 6-2, 6-1, moments before Ray defeated Kimiko Cooper, 6-1, 6-4. Tsoubanos required one more victory to seal the match, and the ‘Dores earned it from Vijayakumar, who defeated Lizzie Isyanov 7-6(3), 6-2. The 4-0 blowout provided Vanderbilt with a much-needed confidence boost following a rocky start to the weekend.
The Commodores will host a double header Friday, Feb. 13, where they will take on Middle Tennessee at 11 a.m. CST, followed by Austin Peay at 4 p.m. CST.
