NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt won its season opening dual match by downing Wake Forest, 6-0, in the first day of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Commodores broke open a close match by wearing down the Demon Deacon women in singles after winning the doubles point.
Perhaps no match was more indicative of this than the No. 1 singles where Vanderbilt senior Catherine Newman fell behind 5-2 in the first set against Wake’s Sasha Kulikova, a junior from Moscow. Newman game back to win that set 7-5 and then took the second set 6-4.
“I thought we fought well as a team for our first dual of the year,” Coach Geoff Macdonald said afterward, “and Catherine’s win at No. 1 was sheer guts. They played a similar style and her comeback was impressive.”
The Commodores will now play Fresno State in the championship match tomorrow at approximately 2:00 p.m. (CST) while Wake Forest and Denver University start in the consolation match at 10:00 a.m.
Wake Forest’s Ryann Cutillo was leading Heather Steinbauer at the No. 6 singles when the match was stopped due to the lateness of the hour.
Doubles results
No. 1 Kulikova and Poske (WF) beat Newman and C. Ulery, 8-3
No. 2 Wu and Preeg (V) beat, Davis and Malvehy, 8-3
No. 3 K. Ulery and Steinbauer beat Reveche and Tara, 8-3
Singles results
No. 1 Newman beat Kulikova, 7-5, 6-4
No. 2 Wu beat Tara, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 K. Ulery beat Sierra Poske, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
No. 4 Pregg (V) beat Malvehy, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
No. 5 C Ulery beat Reveche, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
No. 6 Cutillo and Steinbauer did not finish (Cutillo lead 7-5 after one set)
Fresno State Edges Denver in ITA Opener
Laura Pola outlasted Kyla Iwinski in a grueling singles match to give Fresno State a 4-3 victory over Denver in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend Saturday.
The victorious Bulldogs were aided by default win in the No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles when Denver’s Bhavani Tirumurti was unable to play due to illness.
Fresno will play the winner of the Vanderbilt-Wake Forest match Sunday at 2:00 p.m. CT.
Doubles Results
No. 1 Renata Kucerkova-Anastasic Petukhova (FS) Julia Bauregger-Mallory Voelker, 7-6, abandoned
No. 2 Melanie Gloria-Tinesta Rowe d Kyla Iwinski-Ute Schnoy, 8-4
No. 3 Fresno State default
Singles Results
Voelker (D) d Gloria, 6-2, 6-4
Petukhova (FS) d Aksdal, 6-1, 6-1
Schnoy (D) d Kucerkova, 6-2, 6-2
Bauregger (D) d Rowe, 6-1, 6-3
Pola (FS) d Iwinski, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
FS default
