NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team was perfect in the first day of competition at the June Stewart Invitational, notching four doubles wins and nine singles wins.
The morning began with the Commodores prevailing in four doubles matches. Lauren Mira and Erica Robertson easily defeated Belmont’s Abby Leatherwood and Laura Stack, 8-0, while Alex Leatu and Rachael Dillon defeated Taylor Vick and Carla Suga of Murray State, 8-2. Jackie Wu and Chelsea Preeg topped Murray State’s Ashley Canty and Cassidy Cunitz, 8-4. Nelly Radeva and Megan Gornet had the biggest challenge of the morning, but prevailed with a 9-7 win over Carla Nava and Marietta Bigus of MTSU.
Vanderbilt had at least one player in each of the five singles draws. In the Peterson Draw, Robertson and Gornet each advanced to the second round. Robertson defeated Lipscomb’s Alyssa Bellini, 6-2, 6-2, while Gornet rallied in three sets to pick up a 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Murray State’s Cunitz. Keilly Ulery cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Suga of Murray State in the Roby Draw.
In the Alexander Draw, Preeg blanked Kelly Gray of Memphis, 6-0, 6-0, to advance to Saturday’s second round. Leatu defeated Canty of Murray State, 6-1, 6-1. Playing in the Balafas Draw, Nelly Radeva picked up a 6-0, 6-0 win over Belmon’ts Spense-Anne Edward, and Rachael Dillon dished out a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Lipscomb’s Kara Jackson. Wu and Mira each picked up a 6-1, 6-0 win in the Stotts Draw, over Alexis Webb of Murray State and Carolin Weikard of Austin-Peay, respectively.
The second round of the Valentine doubles draw begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Currey Tennis Center. Results will be posted on vucommodores.com following singles play in the afternoon.
Vanderbilt Results
Doubles – Round 1
Wu/Preeg (VU) def. Canty/Cunitz (Murray St.) 8-4
Mira/Robertson (VU) def. Leatherwood/Stack (Belmont) 8-0
Leatu/Dillon (VU) def. Vick/Suga (Murray St.) 8-2
Radeva/Gornet (VU) def. Nava/Bigus (MTSU) 9-7
Singles – Round 1
Erica Robertson def. Alyssa Bellini (Lipscomb) 6-2, 6-3
Megan Gornet def. Cassidy Cunitz (Murray St.) 0-6, 6-4, 6-3
Keilly Ulery def. Carla Suga (Murray St.) 6-2, 6-1
Alex Leatu def. Ashely Canty (Murray St.) 6-1, 6-1
Chelsea Preeg def. Kelly Gray (Memphis) 6-0, 6-0
Rachael Dillon def. Kara Jackson (Lipscomb) 6-0, 6-2
Nelly Radeva def. Spense-Anne Edward (Belmont) 6-0, 6-0
Jackie Wu def. Alexis Webb (Murray St.) 6-1, 6-0
Lauren Mira def. Carolin Weikard (Austin-Peay) 6-1, 6-0
