No. 14-seeded Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis (22-9) played its second-round matchup in the 2026 NCAA Tournament against Clemson (18-9) Saturday, May 2, at the Lummis Family Tennis Center in Nashville, Tennessee. This matchup came after the Commodores defeated Xavier 4-0 in the first round the previous day. The smooth sailing continued as they downed the Tigers 4-1.
The match was also played on Vanderbilt’s campus, as the ’Dores earned home court for the tournament’s first two rounds. It was played mostly indoors as it began to rain midway through doubles play.
In doubles, graduate senior Célia-Belle Mohr led the way for the squad, as the No. 7 nationally ranked duo of Mohr and Sophia Webster defeated No. 57 Jade Groen and Rinon Okuwaki, 6-3. Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita then beat Artemis Aslanisvili and Sophie Clayton, 6-2, to claim doubles for the Black and Gold.
Mohr beat Groen in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, to close out her excellent day, while Valeria Ray won over Romana Cisovska 6-2, 6-3, to take an early 3-0 lead for the Commodores.
“It means a lot. We have a pretty seasoned team with a bunch of returners, with Célia [Mohr] kind of leading the way,” head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said after the match. “This is a team that has had some pretty big goals going back to the fall. This is what they’ve worked for all year. And to be able to come in here and play a really good, feisty, talented, competitive Clemson team, we’ve played a match that’s felt like this many, many times this season. That’s kind of the blessing, in a way, of being in the SEC: you’ve seen matches like this a lot already.”
The No. 24 Tigers fought back, though, as Aslanisvili took down Pearce 6-3, 6-4, on court No. 5. But just as Clemson’s Talia Neilson-Gatenby took the second set in her match against Yamakita, Bridget Stammel closed out Okuwaki 7-6 (6), 6-3 to clinch a Commodore victory.
“Again, I’m just really proud of the group,” Tsoubanos said.
Vanderbilt will next travel to Columbus, Ohio, where it will face off against No. 3 Ohio State in the Super Regional round Saturday, May 9, at 12 p.m. CDT.
