Sept. 11, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team started the 2009 fall season on a strong note as they went a combined 5-1 in doubles and 5-2 in singles play during the first day of the Fall SEC Coaches Classic in Nashville.
“I thought we competed really well today,” Head Coach Geoff Macdonald said. “The purpose of these fall tournaments is to get a lot of match play and I thought we played hard today.”
Vanderbilt’s Catherine Newman, Jackie Wu, Heather Steinbauer, Chelsea Preeg and Hannah Blatt notched singles wins Friday to lead the ‘Dores.
Wu picked up the first win of the day for VU as she breezed through Mississippi State’s Radka Ferancova in straight sets, taking the match 6-1, 6-2. With the win, the sophomore from Holmdel, N.J., will face Dijana Stojic of South Carolina in the second round tomorrow.
Newman went back-and-forth with Alabama’s Courtney McLane in the first set before outworking the Crimson Tide to take the crucial first set 7-5, before McLane was forced to retire in second set with the match tied at two games a piece. The win for Newman set’s up a great match with Florida’s Anastasia Revzina in tomorrow’s second round.
Blatt came out firing on all cylinders in her singles match Friday, as she defeated Mississippi State’s Danielle Terpko in consecutive sets, 6-2, 6-4. The former Father Ryan prep standout will face Ole Miss’ Gabriela Rangel in tomorrow’s second round.
“I thought Hannah played well today,” Macdonald said. “She played smart tennis while outworking her opponents.”
Steinbauer made things interesting in her match as she came from behind to pull out a hard-fought, three-set win over LSU’s Ebie Wilson. After dropping the opening set 6-2, the Woodlands, Texas native found her stroke as she took the second and third matches, winning 6-2 and 6-4 in the second and third sets, respectively. Steinbauer will face Tennessee’s Jennifer Meredith in Saturday’s second round.
Preeg played the final singles match for the Commodores Friday and she needed little time to dispatch Arkansas’ Kate Lukomskaya, taking the match 6-1, 6-0. The Naples, Fla., native will meet Christine Johnston in tomorrow’s second round.
In doubles, VU’s pair of Preeg and Wu notched a pair of wins over teams from Kentucky and Florida. The sophomore duo defeated UK’s tandem of Lauren Meier and Caroline Lilley (8-2) before knocking off Florida’s team of Allie Will and Revzina. Wu and Preeg will face Tennessee’s Zsofia Zubor and and Rosalia Alda in the final round.
Newman and Steinbauer also went 2-0 in doubles Friday as they notched wins over teams from LSU and Kentucky. The Vanderbilt picked up a first round win over Whitney Wolf and Keri Frankenberger in the first round before dispatching UK’s tandem of Megan Broderick and Chane Hines. Newman and Steinbauer 2-0 performance Friday, clinches a showdown with Florida’s Joanna Mather and Claire Bartlett.
Junior Keilly Ulery teamed up with Blatt to knock off Arkansas’ Emily Carbone and Valentina Starkova, 8-4 in the first round before dropping a match to Alabama’s Paulina Bigos and Taylor Lindsey in the second.
The SEC Coaches Classic will resume Saturday morning at 10 a.m. from the Currey Tennis Center on Vanderbilt’s campus.
Click on the Day One Results link at the top of the page for the match-by-match results and updated draws.