NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Following a tight doubles defeat, the No. 7 Vanderbilt Commodores rallied in singles play to earn a 5-2 victory over the No. 18 LSU Tigers. With the victory, the Commodores now own a 10-4 dual record, and 3-2 SEC slate.
“I think LSU is a really dynamite team,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “They’re a really up-and-coming team and it was a quality win for us. Again, we’re going to work on the doubles, but some of it in a way is that we’re having bad looks at 3-all points. The format of one set at no-ad scoring is so short that it’s not necessarily in our favor. Our team is pretty good at problem solving, and there’s really not enough time in doubles to problem solve.”
Sunday’s competition began with turbulent doubles play, as the Tigers escaped with the point advantage. VU earned a quick 1-0 lead, as Courtney Colton and Astra Sharma dominated court one over Foster/Owens, 6-1, for the pair’s second SEC victory.
However, LSU, who has also been struggling in tandems, pulled out two tight victories on court three then two. Vale Costa/Taylor earned a 6-4 win on three over Georgina Sellyn and Fernanda Contreras to level the score. With the point pending on court two, Sydney Campbell and Frances Altick entered into a tiebreaker. The Commodores fought hard, but the Tiger’s Holloway/Kuykendall pulled out the victory, 7-6(4).
In singles, the Commodores quickly rebounded, taking five first sets. Campbell and Colton both emerged with commanding first set leads on two and four, 6-2, and 6-1. Commodores on courts three, five and six all dug deep to pull out their first sets, 6-4.
“I thought we did an excellent job in singles. The LSU player who played at one, Vale Costa, played a fantastic match against Astra (Sharma), and I thought we played really good job at the other positions in straight set victories.”
No. 24 Campbell earned her second SEC victory at No. 2, going undefeated in singles on the weekend. Overall, the junior from Franklin, Tenn. only allowed her opponents from TAMU and LSU at most two games per set. Campbell’s 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ryann Foster was her 70th victory for the black and gold, now owning a 70-33 record. The Vandy win also broke Foster’s 17-match winning streak for LSU.
With the match tied at 1-all, Louisiana’s 20th-ranked Joana Vale Costa gave the Tigers the lead for the last time, as the junior defeated No. 33 Sharma 6-4, 6-1. The Loss was the Commodores’ second this spring and fifth this year.
The same trio which fought hard to pull out their first sets, were the same ‘Dores to clinch the victory for Vandy as lopsided sets fell in team’s favor.
Coming back from a first set deficit, Sellyn earned her fifth victory of the dual season and second in conference play over Ella Taylor at No. 5, 6-4, 6-1.
No. 16 Altick is now just three wins away from her 100th career singles victory, as the senior defeated LSU’s Skylar Kuykendall 6-4, 6-2 on court three. Altick remains undefeated this spring, boasting a 10-0 record, and 5-0-conference slate playing primarily at No. 2 and No. 3.
Freshman sensation, Contreras, clinched her second victory for the Commodores as the San Luis Potosi, Mexico native pulled out a crafty 6-4, 6-2 victory over a powerful returner in Skylar Holloway. The win on court six was Contreras 20th singles victory as a Commodore.
With the match clinched for Vandy at 4-2, Colton remained trapped in a second set battle on court four. Looking as though she may split, Colton dug in to defeat Abby Owens and seal her 84th victory, 6-1, 7-5.
“Before next week, we were filming the matches, so we’re going to watch doubles and see if we can get better. We also want to see if we can get singles players improving. A key at this juncture is it’s the middle of March, you know ‘can we get better?’… Now is when we can make the push and keep working hard.”
Vanderbilt looks to work off the momentum next weekend, as in-state rival Tennessee heads to Nashville on Thursday. No. 4 Georgia rolls into West End the following Saturday in what is sure to be a thrilling top-10 showdown.
