GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team began the fall season with Day 1 of the Debbie Southern Furman Fall Invitational on Friday. The Commodores earned three victories in doubles before adding six singles wins.
“I love coming to the Debbie Southern Invitational to start the fall and was really impressed with the team today across the board,” Vanderbilt head coach Aleke Tsoubanos. “They competed very, very well in particular in singles play. We picked some quality wins but more importantly displayed resilience, discipline and poise when matches were close. Toughness and fight are things we will focus on all fall as we build for the spring dual season. We picked up nine wins but excited for Celia-Belle (Mohr), Bridget (Stammel) and Sonya (Macavei), who earned the first singles victories of their college careers today. Looking forward to building on this tomorrow with another competitive day of matches.”
In doubles action, the pairing of Marcella Cruz and Bridget Stammel posted a 2-0 record in Flight 3 play. After an opening round victory over Nevena Carton and Jingyi Li from Wake Forest, the duo took down Kate Sharabura and Mahak Jain of Georgia Tech, 8-4. Cruz and Stammel will compete in the finals at 8 a.m. on Saturday.
The team of Celia-Bella Mohr and Anessa Lee secured a win over the Ohio State pairing of Shelly Bereznyak and Kathleen Jones to finish 1-1 on the day in Flight 1.
In Flight 1 singles, Mohr bounced back after dropping the first set to earn an impressive 2-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over Bereznyak.
Vandy fought its way to straight-set victories courtesy of Lee (Flight 3), Stammel (Flight 4), Cruz (Flight 6) and Amy Stevens (Flight 7). In the final match of the day, Sonya Macavei played her way to a 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-0 victory in Flight 5.
Day 2 of the event is set for Saturday.
Doubles
Flight 1 – Hraster/Bilchev (Georgia Tech) def. Mohr/Stevens (Vanderbilt), 8-6
Flight 1 – Mohr/Lee (Vanderbilt) def. Bereznyak/Jones (Ohio State), 8-4
Flight 2 – Wooten/Pate (Wake Forest) def. Staff/Macavei (Vanderbilt), 8-7 (5)
Flight 2 – Mikhailuk/Rizzolo (Mississippi State) def. Staff/Macavei (Vanderbilt), 8-2
Flight 3 – Cruz/Stammel (Vanderbilt) def. Carton/Li (Wake Forest), 8-7 (4)
Flight 3 – Cruz/Stammel (Vanderbilt) def. Sharabura/Jain (Georgia Tech), 8-4
Singles
Flight 1 – Celia-Bella Mohr (Vanderbilt) def. Shelly Bereznyak (Ohio State), 2-6, 6-0, 6-4
Flight 2 – Kylie Bilchev (Georgia Tech) def. Holly Staff (Vanderbilt), 6-0, 6-2
Flight 3 – Anessa Lee (Vanderbilt) def. Jessica Dawson (Furman), 6-4, 6-3
Flight 4 – Bridget Stammel (Vanderbilt) def. Jenna Thompson (Clemson), 6-4, 6-0
Flight 5 – Sonya Macavei (Vanderbilt) def. Ruth Marsh (Georgia Tech), 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-0
Flight 6 – Marcella Cruz (Vanderbilt) def. Madelyn Bemisdefer (Mississippi State), 7-6 (5), 6-4
Flight 7 – Amy Stevens (Vanderbilt) def. Emily Surcey (Mississippi State), 7-6 (4), 6-3
