LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 16 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team is headed to its second-straight ITA National Team Indoor Championship after knocking off No. 19 Georgia Tech, 4-3, in the ITA Kick-off final at the University of Nebraska Tennis Center.
“It was a really close match,” said Vanderbilt head coach Geoff Macdonald. “Give a lot of credit to Georgia Tech, they played a heck of a match. Lauren and Georgina played really well at No. 3 doubles to win the point, and then Georgina played a tough match, winning 10-5 in the third-set tiebreak.”
Vanderbilt got to the Kick-off final after defeating No. 18 Texas Tech, Saturday, 4-1. Fourth-seeded Georgia Tech, defeated the top-seed and host Nebraska.
The Yellow Jackets won the first doubles match of the afternoon at No. 1, as No. 4 Woodard and Kurey defeated No. 28 Ashleigh Antal and Sydney Campbell, 6-3.
The Commodores won back-to-back doubles matches to win the point at No. 2 and No. 3. Courtney Colton and Marie Casares won at No. 2, 6-4, then the `Dores clinched the point with a tough 7-5 win by Lauren Mira and Georgina Sellyn at No. 3.
Georgia Tech jumped out of the gates in singles, winning two matches quickly at No. 6 and No. 1.
Casares won 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 5 position to tie the match up at two, but the Yellow Jackets answered with a win at No. 2, 6-4, 6-1.
With two matches remaining the Commodores needed wins at No. 4 by Frances Altick and No. 3 by Sellyn.
Altick, who won quickly in the first set, was able to take care of business in the second, knocking off Tech’s Anton-Ohlmeyer 6-2, 6-3, to tie the match up at three apiece.
Sellyn and Rasheeda McAdoo split sets, forcing a third set 10-point tiebreak. After losing 1-6 in the second, Sellyn ran away with the breaker, clinching the match, 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-5).
The win over the Yellow Jackets gives the Commodores a bid to the 2014 ITA National Team Indoor Championship in February.
“It’s an honor to get back to National Indoors,” said Macdonald. “It’s just another opportunity for us to get in some matches against elite teams, and we’re really looking forward to it.”
It is the second-straight year that the Commodores have made it to the tournament, both times as a low seed.
National Indoors runs from February 7-10 at the Boar’s Head Tennis Club in Charlottesville, Va. Of the 60 women’s teams participating in the Kick-off weekend, Vanderbilt was the only non-host school to advance to National Indoors.
Prior to National Indoors, the Commodores will hit the road for a match against No. 31 Northwestern on February 2.
