CARY, N.C. — The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team opens its 2024-25 season tomorrow at the ITA All-American Championships, hosted at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, North Carolina. The Dores ended last year with a revenge postseason defeat of No. 12 Ohio State to advance to an NCAA Super Regional, where they ultimately fell to No. 5 Virginia.
“Last year’s experience was a great step in the right direction with reaching the Sweet 16, which was actually a first for all of the returning players on the roster,” head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said. “In a season of ups and downs, the team came through in the biggest match of the season in Columbus to advance to a Super Regional. […] Our players can lean on their own experiences of what that postseason match was like and do what they need to do to compete at their best in any moment like that this year.”
The team’s postseason run may have been a first for many returning players on the team, but success at the All-American Championships is not. Vanderbilt saw Célia-Belle Mohr advance to the singles round of 32 and the pair of Mohr and Anessa Lee make the doubles semifinals last season.
“I expect to see highly competitive match play throughout the week,” said Tsoubanos. “This is a chance to get some quality early results and get a gauge on how we stack up against a strong field. Celia and Bridget [Stammel] will begin in the main draw for singles and have been playing some great tennis the past few weeks. I won’t be surprised to see them playing deep into the draw and positioning themselves for NCAA singles bids.”
Alongside the experienced upperclassmen, freshman Sophia Webster is expected to compete in her first collegiate tournament this weekend. Webster, a 5-star Blue Chip recruit ranked No. 4 in Florida and No. 18 nationally, is partnered with Mohr in doubles to start the year. The duo is ranked No. 29 in the most recent ITA rankings.
“I’m excited to see the new pairing of Celia with Sophia in the qualifying doubles draw,” Tsoubanos said. “I think they can be a very good team with big serving games and Soph being confident in her movement and net play.”
The All-American Championships kick off a new look fall season for the team: the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships will be held at the end of the fall season rather than in the spring. The tournament, hosted by Baylor, is slated to begin Nov. 9.
“Ultimately, our focus is always going to be on the team season,” Tsoubanos said. “Individual success in the fall will only bolster the strength of the team and provide opportunities for players to contribute to our success in the dual season.
“We’ve had a great few weeks of shortened training at the start of the semester,” continued Tsoubanos. “Ownership of this process will be huge, having an all-in mentality and putting the team first will be super important to our success. So far, we have done an impressive job of that and I’m eager to now see our team compete.”
The Commodores look to build on last season’s success while finding new opportunities to develop and grow the program.
“It’s a new year, with a new group and we were a top-25 team at the end of last year,” Tsoubanos concluded. “While we can appreciate the year and finish we had, we want to be better than that; [We want to be] in contention for championships and build on the legacy of this great program.”
The ITA All-American Championships tournament page is available online.
