TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 8 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team picked up its sixth Southeastern Conference win Sunday afternoon in a 6-1 victory over the No. 45 Alabama Crimson Tide.
With doubles victories on courts two and three, the Commodores took the one-point advantage over the Tide and carried momentum into singles play.
The senior/freshman pairing of Sydney Campbell and Emma Kurtz earned the first win on the day, downing Joanna Saava and Andie Daniell, 6-3. Following No. 25 Maddie Pothoff and Erin Routliffe’s 6-4 upset over VU’s No. 8 Astra Sharma and Emily Smith, attention turned to court three.
Fernanda Contreras and Christina Rosca managed to pull off a hotly contested match against Bama’s Danielle Spielmann and Juliana Valero, 7-5 for the clinch.
The ‘Dores followed their doubles success with dominant singles play, taking four of six first sets and four straight-set victories.
Redshirt-senior Georgina Sellyn was first off the court for the black and gold, defeating Juliana Valero, 6-1, 6-2, for the 2-0 advantage. Contreras limited her opponent, Kimberley Gintrand, to just two games in her 50th career victory (50-11).
Alabama earned its lone point of the league match on court three, as No. 93 Rosca suffered a 6-3, 6-1 setback against Spielmann.
VU took the next three competitions with freshman Kurtz clinching the victory in a tough 6-4, 6-4 battle against Smith Hinton on court four. No. 5 Sharma dropped her opening set against No. 38 Routliffe, but the redshirt-junior shifted gears to force a third set, 6-2, and take the match, 6-0.
Vanderbilt delivered the final blow in a fierce match on court two. Ranked No. 12 in the country, Campbell fell in her first set against Daniell, 5-7, but rallied in the second set to only allow the Tide one game. Utilizing the entire court, the Commodore earned key points in the second set to take the match, 5-7, 6-1, 7-5.
The Commodores return home this weekend, hosting Missouri at 4 pm on Friday and Arkansas at 1 pm on Sunday.
