NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt women’s tennis put together another top-15 takedown with a 4-1 rout of No. 11 South Carolina on Sunday at the Lummis Family Tennis Center.
“That was a really good, quality win against a tough South Carolina team,” head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said. “They competed really hard down to the wire, and they made some things pretty difficult for us in some spots. I commend the way they competed today.”
There was no letdown for the Commodores after coming off of an emotional win over top-ranked Georgia. Vanderbilt (13-4, 3-2 SEC) set the tone early in doubles, led by the No. 16 ranked pairing of junior Valeria Ray and senior Bridget Stammel. The Dore duo shut out their Gamecock counterparts 6-0 to give Vandy its first match win of the day. South Carolina (9-4, 2-3 SEC) evened it up at No. 1 doubles, leaving the freshman combination of No. 88 Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita to secure the doubles point. The pair did just that, fending off Jane Dunyon and Jana Stojanova 6-4 to give the black and gold an early advantage. The victory marked the third consecutive doubles point claimed by the Commodores.
“I thought we did a great job pulling through there to get that doubles point,” Tsoubanos said. “Things went pretty quickly at No. 2 doubles. Valeria and Bridget came out and played a very clean set. Erin and Mia had some tough games early on, and for them to be able to pull it back and find a way to close out the match was huge for us to secure that doubles point. It was another match where I thought we did a great job taking momentum from doubles into singles.”
Vanderbilt notched four first set wins out of the six singles courts. From there, it was all about the Dores’ top three as the team raced ahead. No. 24 graduate Célia-Belle Mohr added her sixth ranked victory of the season with a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of No. 47 Kaitlyn Carnicella. Ray followed just behind, pulling out a 6-4, 6-3 win over Sara Borkop. The Gamecocks then generated their only point of the match at No. 4 singles.
“To get four first sets on six courts was also huge for us,” Tsoubanos said. “When you see your opponent put up the first singles point, it’s tough to see. We were able to put South Carolina in that position with the way Célia played against Carnicella. She really pulled away there in the second, and putting that second point up made things really difficult for South Carolina, knowing they’ve got five matches left and have almost no margin for error to find a path to victory.”
Ahead 3-1 and with full control of the match, the Commodores threatened at multiple different positions needing just one point to put the match away. That final win was clinched by Stammel, who produced her 100th career singles victory, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, over No. 77 Helena Buchwald. The senior hit her singles milestone just two days after Mohr did the same against Georgia. And like Mohr, it was also Stammel’s sixth ranked victory this season, her second in dual match play.
“We had another incredible milestone today for Bridget Stammel, who reached 100 career singles wins,” Tsoubanos said. “That was special in itself, but to now have two players do that in back-to-back matches, both of which resulted in team victories, was outstanding. I am very, very proud of her and what she has done for this program.”
“We’re certainly going to enjoy the results from this weekend and take a much-needed day to recover before getting right back to work,” Tsoubanos concluded. “We will be up against a challenge on Friday, heading down to Starkville to play in a tough environment against Mississippi State.”
Sunday’s match closed the door on a nine-match homestand for Vanderbilt, who takes to the road for the first time since Feb. 8. The Commodores are set for a battle with Mississippi State (12-4, 1-4 SEC) on Friday at 3 p.m. For more information, updates and exclusive match day content, follow the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team, @VandyWTennis, on Instagram and X.
No. 35 Vanderbilt 4, No. 11 South Carolina 1
Doubles
1. No. 21 Buchwald/Lauren Friedman [South Carolina] def. No. 5 Mohr/Sophia Webster [Vanderbilt] 6-3
2. No. 16 Ray/Stammel [Vanderbilt] def. Carnicella/Taylor Goetz [South Carolina] 6-0
3. No. 88 Pearce/Yamakita [Vanderbilt] def. Dunyon/Stojanova [South Carolina] 6-4
Singles
1. No. 24 Mohr [Vanderbilt] def. No. 47 Carnicella [South Carolina] 6-3, 6-1
2. No. 42 Stammel [Vanderbilt] def. No. 77 Buchwald [South Carolina] 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
3. No. 21 Ray [Vanderbilt] def. Borkop [South Carolina] 6-4, 6-3
4. Goetz [South Carolina] def. Trinetra Vijayakumar [Vanderbilt] 6-3, 6-1
5. No. 85 Yamakita [Vanderbilt] vs. Dunyon [South Carolina] 3-6, 7-5, unfinished
6. Pearce [Vanderbilt] vs. Stojanova [South Carolina] 6-3, 4-6, 3-1, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,3,4,2)
