No. 6 Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis Defeats No. 13 Clemson, 6-1

No. 6 Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis Defeats No. 13 Clemson, 6-1

2/20/2004

Commodores remain unbeaten at home

NASHVILLE — The sixth-ranked Vanderbilt women’s tennis team earned its third win over a top-15 team by defeating No. 13 Clemson, 6-1, Friday at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center. The Commodores (8-1) have not lost a match at home since March 1, 2002 — a streak of 28 consecutive victories.

Vanderbilt opened the match by taking a hard-fought doubles point. VU’s second-ranked doubles team of Kelly Schmandt and Aleke Tsoubanos had no trouble at first doubles, defeating the 49th-ranked pair of Richele LeSaldo and Karen Rombouts, 8-0. Juniors Audra Falk and Annie Menees suffered their first defeat of the dual-match season, falling 8-5 to Daniela Alvarez and Maria Brito.

The point came down to third doubles, where sophomore Ashley Schellhas and freshman Amanda Fish were able to knock off Clemson’s Julie Coin and Silvia Gutierrez, 8-6. Vanderbilt carried its 1-0 lead into singles play.

No. 94 Schmandt, undefeated in dual-match play, upped her record to 9-0 with a straight-set victory at second singles over 40th-ranked Daniela Alvarez. Clemson’s lone point came at first singles, where ninth-ranked Julie Coin defeated 39th-ranked Falk, 6-1, 6-4.

Clemson was within a point of the Commodores, but Vanderbilt would soon take over the match. Fish notched a straight-set win at fourth singles to give VU a 3-1 lead. The match was clinched at fifth singles, where Schellhas defeated CU’s LaSaldo, 7-6 (1), 6-3.

With the match already decided, Vanderbilt would fight its way into two more points. Tsoubanos came back from losing a second set tiebreaker to win her match at third singles, 10-7, in a super-tiebreaker. Menees finished off Gutierrez at sixth singles, 6-3, 6-1, to give Vanderbilt its final margin of victory, 6-1.

The Commodores are back in action Sunday with a match against No. 64 Iowa at Noon CT inside the Currey Tennis Center. The Hawkeyes arrived in Nashville today and will face Clemson on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.

Agate:
No. 6 Vanderbilt def. No. 13 Clemson, 6-1

Doubles
1. No. 2 Schmandt/Tsoubanos (VU) def. No. 49 Rombouts/LeSaldo (CU), 8-0
2. Brito/Alvarez (CU) def. No. 28 Falk/Menees (VU), 8-5
3. Schellhas/Fish (VU) def. Coin./Gutierrez (CU), 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3*

Singles
1. No. 9 Julie Coin (CU) def. No. 39 Audra Falk (VU), 6-1, 6-4
2. No. 94 Kelly Schmandt (VU) def. No. 40 Daniela Alvarez (CU), 6-1, 6-2
3. Aleke Tsoubanos (VU) def. No. 78 Maria Brito (CU), 6-3, 6-7 (0), 1-0 (10-7)
4. No. 66 Amanda Fish (VU) def. Karen Rombouts (CU), 6-4, 6-3
5. No. 77 Ashley Schellhas (VU) def. Richele LeSaldo (CU), 7-6 (1), 6-3
6. Annie Menees (VU) def. Silvia Gutierrez (CU), 6-3, 6-1
Order of finish: 2, 1, 4, 5*, 3, 6