NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 13 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team moved into a tie for third place with an impressive 7-0 sweep of No. 17 Tennessee on Friday afternoon at the Currey Tennis Center. The Commodores improve to 16-3 overall and 6-3 in the Southeastern Conference, while the Lady Vols drop to 13-6 and 6-3 in league play.
“We played really well today,” Vanderbilt women’s tennis head coach Geoff Macdonald said. “I think Tennessee’s a little dinged up right now and things broke our way. The doubles point was very important to get. I thought we played a really, really good match.”
Vanderbilt took an early 1-0 lead in the match by capturing the doubles point. Taka Bertrand and Keilly Ulery were the first Commodore team to register a win in doubles play by defeating Jennifer Meredith and Connor Vogel 8-2 at the third position.
Caroline Ferrell and Catherine Newman clinched the doubles point for the `Dores with an 8-5 victory at the No. 2 position with an 8-5 triumph over Rosalia Alda and Ghizela Schutte.
The most competitive doubles match came at the first position between the 11th-ranked team of Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor and VU’s 54th-ranked duo of Amanda Taylor and Courtney Ulery. Down 7-5, Taylor and Ulery battled back to even the match at seven and force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, the Commodores jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and never looked back, winning 7-4 to sweep all three doubles matches.
“We’ve really worked hard on our doubles play,” Macdonald said. “If you look at some of the matches earlier in the year, some of those we lost by just a couple of points. I’m very proud of the team.”
It didn’t take long for the Commodores to extend their lead to 2-0. Playing at the second singles position, No. 47 Newman easily dispatched of Schutte in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. The win was the fifth for Newman in SEC play and improved her overall dual match mark to 13-6.
Freshman Keilly Ulery brought Vanderbilt within one game of clinching the match with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Alda at No. 5 singles. The win was the third consecutive singles victory for Ulery and improved her dual match record to 12-5.
No. 61 Courtney Ulery secured Vanderbilt’s eighth straight victory with a win over Zubor at the fourth singles position. Ulery won the opening set 6-3, and jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second set before cruising to a 6-3 victory.
No. 96 Bertrand extended her singles winning streak to 11 with a win over Samantha Orlin. After seeing a 5-2 lead in the first set disappear, Bertrand responded by winning a tiebreaker 7-4 to claim the first set 7-6. The Great Falls, Va., native had no trouble in the second set, claiming a 6-1 victory to improve her dual match record to an impressive 17-2 and 8-1 in conference matches.
No. 23 Taylor extended the lead to 6-0 with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over No. 51 Whoriskey at No. 1 singles. The win improved Taylor’s overall record to 15-4 and 6-3 in the SEC.
Playing at No. 6 singles, Ferrell closed out the sweep with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Vogel. Ferrell improves to 15-4 in dual matches and 6-3 in conference play.
Vanderbilt returns to action on Sunday as it faces No. 10 Georgia. Opening serve at the Currey Tennis Center is slated for Noon (CT).
Friday’s Results:
No. 13 Vanderbilt 7 def. No. 17 Tennessee 0
Doubles:
1. No. 54 Amanda Taylor/C. Ulery (VU) def. Caitlin Whoriskey/Zsofia Zubor (UT) – 8-7 (4)
2. Caroline Ferrell/Catherine Newman (VU) def. Rosalia Alda/Ghizela Schutte (UT) – 8-5
3. Taka Bertrand/Keilly Ulery (VU) def. Jennifer Meredith/Connor Vogel (UT) – 8-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles:
1. No. 23 Amanda Taylor (VU) def. No. 51 Caitlin Whoriskey (UT) – 7-6 (3), 6-3
2. No. 47 Catherine Newman (VU) def. Ghizella Schutte (UT) – 6-1, 6-1
3. No. 96 Taka Bertrand (VU) def. Samantha Orlin (UT) – 7-6 (4), 6-1
4. No. 61 Courtney Ulery (VU) def. Zsofia Zubor (UT) – 6-3, 6-3
5. Keilly Ulery (VU) def. Rosalia Alda (UT) – 6-3, 6-1
6. Caroline Ferrell (VU) def. Connor Vogel (UT) – 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 5, 4, 3, 1, 6
Updated Team Records: Vanderbilt (16-3, 6-3 SEC); Tennessee (13-6, 6-3 SEC)
