KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Behind strong performances in doubles and singles play, the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team defeated Mississippi State, 4-1, on Thursday morning and advances to the second round of the SEC Tournament. The Commodores will face Alabama, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, on Friday at 8 a.m. CT.
“Mississippi State played a great match today,” said Vanderbilt head coach Geoff Macdonald. “They were much improved since the last time we played them back in March. But overall I think our team played really well. The courts at Tennessee are slower that we’re used to, but everyone adapted to the conditions really well.”
Using the same doubles lineup that found success last week against Kentucky, the Commodores won on courts two and three this morning to earn the first point of the match. On court two, Chelsea Preeg and Lauren Mira posted an 8-2 win over Mariia Ryzhova and Olesya Tsigvintseva. Minutes later, Rachael Dillon and Jackie Wu topped Danielle Terpko and Alexandra Perper, 8-3, to clinch the point.
Nelly Radeva and Keilly Ulery were leading 6-5 on court three when the doubles point was clinched, so play was suspended.
Before singles began, Mississippi State defaulted on court six due to injury, giving the Commodores a 2-0 lead.
Playing on court five, Radeva held MSU’s Dion scoreless in both sets to put Vanderbilt up 3-0. Radeva has now won her last six matches, and is 6-1 this spring in singles play.
“Nelly did a wonderful job in singles,” noted Macdonald. “She made very few mistakes and was practically flawless.”
Mississippi State got on the scoreboard when Alexandra Perper topped Preeg, 6-2, 6-4, on court one.
Vanderbilt clinched the match when Mira posted a 6-1, 6-2 win over Tsigvintseva in the No. 3 match.
“Mira played a very good opponent,” said Macdonald. “She outcompeted her opponent from the beginning and was able to clinch the victory for us.”
The other two singles matches went unfinished since the Commodores had already picked up the win.
Alabama has won its last eight matches heading into the SEC Tournament. They finished the regular season with a 15-5 record, including an 8-3 mark in conferene play.
“Alabama is one of the hottest teams in the country right now,” said Macdonald. “It should be a great match to see who earns a spot in the SEC semifinal match.”
Live stats for the match will be available .
