CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — No. 12 Vanderbilt women’s tennis suffered its first loss of the season on Friday, falling to No. 2 Texas A&M 4-2 in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship at the Atkins Tennis Center.
“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. They did a really good job, so credit to them. I think we have focused a lot on showing up at all nine positions, and we didn’t do that today. Against any good team, that’s going to put you in a really tough spot.”
The Commodores opened doubles play facing deficits at Courts 1 and 3. No. 14 ranked junior Valeria Ray and senior Bridget Stammel picked up the first win of the match with a 6-4 defeat of Violeta Martinez and Anna Perelman. Despite the remaining doubles matches coming down to the final points, it was the Aggies who came out on top to secure the opening point. The doubles loss is the first for the black and gold this season.
“That was not the doubles we’ve been accustomed to seeing through these first few weeks of the season,” Tsoubanos said. “It was pretty passive, almost hoping that things would work out, which is not the kind of doubles that we want to play or have been playing to this point.”
Vanderbilt (5-1) looked to have shifted the momentum in singles play with first set leads at five of the six courts. Although Texas A&M (6-1) pulled ahead 2-0 after a victory at No. 2 singles, freshman Erin Pearce got the Dores on the board moments later, cruising past Tilde Stromquist 6-2, 6-2. Vandy tied the score 2-2 after Stammel took down Lexington Reed 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
The remaining matches continued back and forth with multiple lead changes at each. Martinez generated a dagger 7-5, 6-3 comeback win on Court 4 to push the Aggies into winning position at 3-2. Despite holding advantages at the two remaining courts, the Commodores were unable to capitalize. Texas A&M ultimately clinched the match at No. 1 singles after sophomore Trinetra Vijayakumar forced a third set at Court 5.
“We’ve got another early match tomorrow, so we have to be ready to move on from today and put forth our best competitive effort, knowing another good team is coming,” Tsoubanos said. “We’ll be looking forward to turning the page and seeing if we can get forward on the right foot tomorrow. This is a team that has belief in itself, but most of them have not been on this type of stage; only two have previously been to national indoors. Today was a new experience, dealing with new pressures, so I think we will settle in a little bit more.”
No. 12 Vanderbilt returns to play on Saturday at 9 a.m. against the loser of No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 18 Texas. The ITA National Team Indoor Championship tournament page can be viewed online. For more information, updates and exclusive game day content, follow the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team, @VandyWTennis, on Instagram and X.
No. 2 Texas A&M 4, No. 12 Vanderbilt 2
Doubles
1. Mia Kupres/Lucciana Perez [Texas A&M] def. No. 3 Mohr/Sophia Webster [Vanderbilt] 6-4
2. No. 14 Ray/Stammel [Vanderbilt] def. Martinez/Perelman [Texas A&M] 6-4
3. Reed/Daria Smetannikov [Texas A&M] def. No. 49 Yamakita/Pearce [Vanderbilt] 6-4
Singles
1. No. 46 Kupres [Texas A&M] def. No. 24 Mohr [Vanderbilt] 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
2. No. 41 Perez [Texas A&M] def. No. 15 Ray [Vanderbilt] 6-1, 6-1
3. No. 40 Stammel [Vanderbilt] def. Reed [Texas A&M] 6-2, 6-4
4. Martinez [Texas A&M] def. No. 56 Yamakita [Vanderbilt] 7-5, 6-3
5. Vijayakumar [Vanderbilt] vs. No. 96 Smetannikov [Texas A&M] 6-7 (6), 7-5, unfinished
6. Pearce [Vanderbilt] def. Stromquist [Texas A&M] 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,6,3,4,1)
