Oct. 12, 2017
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team began competing in the Ohio Valley Regional Thursday morning, with each member of the squad earning a victory.
Regionals is the third team tournament of the fall season, as the Dores opened play at the Puerto Rico Fall Classic in early September and later played in the Debbie Southern Fall Classic. Select players competed last week in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championship. Like the previous tournaments, the Dores came away from day one with quality wins.
Thursday’s action saw two rounds of doubles play, followed by one round of singles.
Vanderbilt enjoyed three byes in main draw singles action as third-seeded Emma Kurtz, fourth-seeded Amanda Meyer and sixth-seeded Summer Dvorak watched 13th-seeded Emily Smith and freshman Lauren Gish compete in the first round.
Gish limited Chattanooga’s Emma Van Hee five games in a 6-2, 6-3 victory, while Smith came out on top of a tough battle verses Dayton’s Kelly Pleiman, 6-4, 7-5. Payton Robinette represented VU in flight “B” singles, and suffered a loss to Evansville’s Theodora Soldtou, 6-1, 6-2.
Robinette and Gish competed against Ball State’s Sbircea/Gollhofer in the first round of doubles. The duo walked away with their first victory as a team, 8-5.
Vandy went 2-1 in round two of tandems. Second-seeded Kurtz/Smith defeated home team Kermet/Zehnder of Middle Tennessee, 8-7(3). Fourth-seeded Dvorak defeated Nashville neighbor, Buberl/Tshatedi of Lipscomb, 8-2. Gish/Robinette capped doubles falling to a strong Austin Peay team, seventh-seeded Garcia/Garcia, 8-0.
Vanderbilt will continue Regional action form the Adams Tennis Complex Friday morning.
Results:
Main Draw Singles
Lauren Gish def. Emma Van Hee (Chatt), 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 Dvorak, bye
No. 3 Kurtz, bye
No. 4 Meyer, bye
No. 13 Emily Smith def. Kelly Pleiman (Dayton), 6-4, 7-5
Flight B Singles
Theodora Soldtou (Evansville) def. Payton Robinette, 6-1, 6-2
Main Draw Doubles; Round One
No. 4 Dvorak/Meyer, bye
Gish/Robinette def. Sbircea/Gollhofer (Ball State), 8-5
No. 2 Kurtz/Smith, bye
Round Two
No. 4 Dvorak/Meyer def. Buberl/Tshatedi (Lipscomb), 8-2
No. 7 Garcia/Garcia (Austin Peay) def. Gish/Robinette, 8-0
No. 2 Kurtz/Smith def. Kermet/Zehnder (MTSU), 8-7(3)