COLUMBIA, S.C. — Following a 4-2 victory over the seventh-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks, the No. 3 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team will look to defend its Southeastern Conference regular season championship on Saturday against Florida at 10 a.m. CT.
With the victory, Vanderbilt improves to 18-3 overall and 11-1 in SEC play. The top-10 win over South Carolina was the Dores’ fifth of the season and 10th top-25 victory.
The Commodores opened up Thursday’s tilt taking the doubles point over the Gamecocks. A tough tandems opponent, the loss was South Carolina’s second doubles setback throughout all of SEC play.
Fernanda Contreras and Summer Dvorak earned the first victory on the day, taking a dominant 6-0 victory on court three over SC’s Kennedy Wicker and Megan Davies. Playing at No. 1 doubles for the fourth straight match, No. 71 Emma Kurtz and Emily Smith sealed the point advantage, defeating No. 55 Hadley Berg and Paige Cline, 6-4.
“South Carolina has been really good at doubles all season,” said Smith, “so we knew it would be a tough match. But coach had given us a really specific game plan, and we were able to execute it well so that made a huge difference. I think taking the doubles point gave everyone a boost going into singles.”
Following doubles play, both teams split first sets with Vanderbilt and South Carolina each taking three apiece.
The Gamecocks earned their two points consecutively, taking singles victories on courts three then two. South Carolina’s No. 32 Berg defeated 50th-ranked Rosca 6-2, 6-2, while Amanda Meyer fell to SC’s Mia Horvit 6-4, 6-1.
Vanderbilt’s Dvorak strung together a straight-set victory of her own, leveling the overall score to 2-all with a 6-2, 6-4 victory on court five over Davies. The singles win was the junior’s third straight victory, sitting undefeated in both singles and doubles play since March 31.
Ranked sixth in the country, Contreras’ 6-3, 7-5 victory over No. 58 Ingrid Gamara Martins allowed the Commodores the 3-2 lead. With the win, Contreras sits six wins short of claiming VU’s single-season win record (39) as well as her 100th career victory.
After dropping her opening set on court six to South Carolina’s Wicker, 6-2, Smith rebounded to force a third set. Determined to provide her team its fourth and final point, the junior from Birmingham, England separated herself early in the final set and held on to the lead to clinch Vanderbilt’s victory in three sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Kurtz was tied at 1-all in the third set against Cline on court four at the clinch.
“It was a really great feeling realizing I could just hang in there and out-tough my opponent,” Smith continued. “Then seeing everyone running over at the end of the match, and us being so happy, it was really special and definitely a highlight of my college career so far.”
For updates and a behind-the-scenes look at Saturday’s SEC Regular Season Championship battle versus No. 10 Florida, follow @VandyWTennis on Twitter.
