NASHVILLE, Tenn. — No. 14 national seed Vanderbilt women’s tennis earned an efficient 4-0 victory over Xavier Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the Lummis Family Tennis Center.
The Commodores (21-9) lost just nine combined games in the six completed singles and doubles matches to defeat the Musketeers (16-9) for the second time this season.
“Xavier is a team we played back in February, and if you looked at the team score it looked lopsided but if you looked at the individual courts it was actually a much closer match than the score indicated. They won the Big East this year and earned the right to be in this tournament, so we came in with a ton of respect for them,” head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said. “But I thought we were incredibly efficient on all three courts in doubles and all six courts in singles, and I think that was important in trying to obviously get the outcome you want in the first round and also gain some momentum to take into a regional final.”
Vandy took an early 1-0 lead after quick victories on the second and third courts, with Valeria Ray and Bridget Stammel not dropping a game on the former and the duo of Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita losing just one on the latter. Célia-Belle Mohr lost only one game at No. 1 singles to double Vandy’s lead before Sophia Webster put the Dores on the cusp of claiming the match with a straight-sets victory on Court No. 6.
Minutes later, Stammel wrapped up play with a win at No. 2.
“That [previous meeting] was an indoor match on five courts. I think we’re probably playing better tennis now than we did then, and I think we played a little bit better outside than we did indoors at the time,” said Tsoubanos. “I also think Xavier has some pretty big hitters on their team who served very, very well, and that’s something that can give you a bit of an advantage, even more so on a quicker indoor court. I certainly think that played a factor, but I think we have tried to improve as the season has gone on and I think we’re playing some better tennis now than we did then.”
The Commodores will now take on Clemson—a 4-1 winner over ETSU earlier in the day—Saturday at 4 p.m. for a berth in an NCAA Super Regional next weekend.
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Doubles
1. No. 7 Mohr/Webster [Vanderbilt] vs. Abby Nugent/Clara Owen [Xavier] 5-3
2. No. 15 Ray/Stammel [Vanderbilt] def. Ella DeFord/Madeleine Rexroat [Xavier] 6-0
3. Pearce/Yamakita [Vanderbilt] def. Emily Flowers/Natalie Smitek [Xavier] 6-1
Singles
1. No. 30 Mohr [Vanderbilt] def. Nugent [Xavier] 6-0, 6-1
2. No. 12 Stammel [Vanderbilt] def. Rexroat [Xavier] 6-1, 6-2
3. No. 33 Ray [Vanderbilt] vs. Flowers [Xavier] 6-2, 2-1 unfinished
4. Yamakita [Vanderbilt] vs. DeFord [Xavier] 6-1, 5-1 unfinished
5. Pearce [Vanderbilt] vs. Owen [Xavier] 7-6 (2), 0-1 unfinished
6. Webster [Vanderbilt] def. Smitek [Xavier] 6-1, 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (1,6,2)
