COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores are bound for the SEC Tournament finals for the third time in program history. The Commodores knocked off the No. 1 seeded Florida Gators 4-2 in Saturday afternoon’s marathon match. With the win the Commodores gave No. 3 Florida their second loss of league play, with the Gator’s first defeat coming in Nashville as Vandy upset UF 4-1.
Saturday’s match began with absolutely thrilling doubles action, with the `Dores taking early leads on all three courts. At one point the Commodores simultaneously broke the Gators on all three courts.
On court one with the early 4-1 VU lead the Gators fought back taking seven straight games to seal the doubles advantage; 8-4.
The Gators gained momentum lessening the VU lead on courts two and three, but the `Dores rallied back capitalizing on superior shot selection and entire use of the court. Ashleigh Antal and Astra Sharma’s perfect 12-0 SEC record was threated by the Florida tandem of Woolcock/Kuhlman, but VU prevailed in a tiebreaker tying the doubles point with a 7-6(4) win on two.
Down 7-5 on court three, Frances Altick and Marie Casares battled back to break UF and force a tiebreaker. Up two breaks at 4-3 the Commodores broke the powerful Gator serve once more, this time to cement the doubles point for the black and gold; 7-6(3).
The points continued to fall for the `Dores into singles play as junior Courtney Colton cruised through her match on four to give the `Dores a 2-0 lead. The Davie, Fla. native registered her 8th SEC victory in a 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 45 Keegan.
With VU down four first sets match play was halted due to poor weather conditions. As the downpour continued to worsen, semifinal action was moved to Carolina’s indoor facility.
With play finally resuming inside the `Dores took two back-to-back hits in singles.
Although the sophomore put up a hard fought battle, No. 7 Campbell suffered a 7-5, 6-3 loss on court one to freshman standout Brooke Austin. The UF victory on one lessened the VU lead which would be challenged once more as Belinda Woolcock defeated senior Casares 7-6(2), 6-3.
But the tying of the match did not rattle the `Dores, in fact it kick started a shift in momentum which inspired a crucial split from Frances Altick and an impressive performance by Antal once she took the court to resume her match.
Antal continued play down 2-1 in the third, but powered through the set with a workmanlike effort. The senior from Wilmington, N.C. gave VU the 3-2 advantage with her 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory on court five over Porter.
As Antal was wrapping up business at six, Sharma was battling hard for the Commodores a few courts over, up 5-0 in her third and final set.
With Sharma serving for the match, No. 10 Kuhlman blew a return giving the Aussie the 6-4, 6-7(0), 6-1 win. The redshirt freshman gave up just one game in her third set and final set.
With the win in the Commodores’ pocket Altick dropped her racket on three and sprinted to join the rest of her teammates as the entire squad enveloped Sharma in hugs, cheers, and high-fives.
Tomorrow at 11:00 am CT the Commodores will square off against the second seeded Georgia Bulldogs. UGA defeated VU 5-2 in regular season play, but the `Dores are excited for tomorrow’s SEC Championship match and determined to give their all for one another until the very last point.
With threats of bad weather, tomorrow’s match is predicted to be inside once again. SEC Network + will be broadcasting live from South Carolina which can be accessed HERE. Live stats of tomorrow’s final can be found HERE.
Results:
#9 (4) Vanderbilt 4, #3 (1) Florida 2
Singles competition
- #5 Brooke Austin (UF) def. #9 Sydney Campbell (VU) 7-5, 6-3
- #41 Astra Sharma (VU) def. #10 Josie Kuhlman (UF) 6-4, 6-7 (0-7), 6-1
- #27 Brianna Morgan (UF) vs. #120 Frances Altick (VU) 6-4, 4-6, 2-2, unfinished
- #74 Courtney Colton (VU) def. #45 Kourtney Keegan (UF) 6-2, 6-0
- #53 Belinda Woolcock (UF) def. #100 Marie Casares (VU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
- Ashleigh Antal (VU) def. Peggy Porter (UF) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Doubles competition
- #7 Brooke Austin/Kourtney Keegan (UF) def. #25 Sydney Campbell/Courtney Colton (VU) 8-4
- #16 Ashleigh Antal/Astra Sharma (VU) def. Josie Kuhlman/Belinda Woolcock (UF) 8-7 (7-4)
- Frances Altick/Marie Casares (VU) def. Spencer Liang/Peggy Porter (UF) 8-7 (7-3)
Match Notes:
(4) Vanderbilt 18-6, 11-2 SEC; National ranking #9
(1) Florida 21-3, 12-1 SEC; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,1,5,6,2)
SEC Tournament – Semifinals
