NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It was a successful Senior Day for No. 11 Vanderbilt women’s tennis, who swept visiting Arkansas 7-0 at the Lummis Family Tennis Center on Saturday in the Commodores’ final home match of the regular season.
“Firstly, a heartfelt thank you to our communications, marketing, video, and facility staffs – and especially to Madison [Pinnell] and Blake [Largent] – for putting together a beautiful celebration to honor our four graduates this morning,” head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said. “It was the perfect way to celebrate them and kick off our last regular season home match here at Lummis.”
Vanderbilt (19-6, 9-4 SEC) made quick work of Arkansas (12-11, 3-10 SEC) from its bottom two positions, led by No. 19 junior Valeria Ray and senior Bridget Stammel. The duo notched its sixth straight win in shutout fashion, 6-0, over Arina Babenko and Brooke Schafer. With a back-and-forth ranked battle taking place at No. 1 doubles, the freshman combination of Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita delivered the doubles point for the Dores; the two downed Jimena Gomez Alonso and Alex Panagiotidou 6-2 from the No. 3 position.
“We played a very complete dual match today against Arkansas,” Tsoubanos said. “It started off with us playing much better doubles, especially at Courts 2 and 3, where we really didn’t give them much space to climb into those sets.”
After collecting their 19th doubles point this season, the Commodores kept the momentum rolling in singles play. No. 116 Yamakita posted the first singles point on the board for Vandy with a second win over Panagiotidou, 6-2, 6-0. Her freshman teammate Pearce was not far behind, sinking Anet Koskel 6-4, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. The win was Pearce’s first from one of the top three singles positions. Stammel then sealed the team win on Senior Day behind her 10th ranked victory of the season, 6-3, 6-1, against No. 33 Caroli Gomez Alonso. Stammel now sits on a four match win streak, three of which have come against ranked opponents.
“Taking that momentum into singles was important, and we started out with early leads on five of the six courts,” Tsoubanos said. “Our freshmen, Mia and Erin, got those two points on the board quickly and poetically set the table for Bridget to get the clinch on Senior Day. To be down 3-1 in the first set and proceed to lose only one more game from that point on just shows how well she is playing and competing.”
No. 25 Ray also extended her winning stretch, notching her sixth victory in a row versus Schafer, 6-4, 6-0. It is the longest streak for the junior since her 17-match run from Jan. 10 to March 16, 2025. Vanderbilt moved ahead 6-0 after sophomore Sophia Webster pulled out a 6-3, 6-4 win over Babenko. In what became a marathon of a match, sophomore Trinetra Vijayakumar finalized the team sweep at Court 6; she battled to a 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 victory against Jimena Gomez Alonso. It was the ninth shutout for the Dores this season and their first in SEC play.
“Ultimately as a team, we did a great job of executing and never really allowed Arkansas to gain any sort of momentum at all in the match,” Tsoubanos said. “I’m also really proud of Trinetra for coming through in the match tiebreak, which is hard to do when the team result has been decided. But she is a competitor and found a way today. Lastly, a huge thank you to the many, many people that came out to support our seniors and our team. You stayed all the way to the last point of the last match; it was an incredible environment and you brought so much great energy to the finish. We hope to be in a position to welcome all of our fans back for postseason play in May.”
No. 11 Vanderbilt takes to the road for its final two matches of the regular season. The Commodores will face No. 16 Florida (13-5, 8-4 SEC) on April 10 before matching up against No. 4 Auburn (27-3, 11-2 SEC) on April 12. For more information, updates and exclusive match day content, follow the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team, @VandyWTennis, on Instagram and X.
No. 11 Vanderbilt 7, Arkansas 0
Doubles
1. No. 5 Mohr/Webster [Vanderbilt] vs. No. 25 C. Gomez Alonso/Koskel [Arkansas] 5-4, unfinished
2. No. 19 Ray/Stammel [Vanderbilt] def. Babenko/Schafer [Arkansas] 6-0
3. Pearce/Yamakita [Vanderbilt] def. J. Gomez Alonso/Panagiotidou [Arkansas] 6-2
Singles
1. No. 14 Stammel [Vanderbilt] def. No. 33 C. Gomez Alonso [Arkansas] 6-3, 6-1
2. No. 25 Ray [Vanderbilt] def. Schafer [Arkansas] 6-4, 6-0
3. Pearce [Vanderbilt] def. Koskel [Arkansas] 6-4, 6-0
4. No. 116 Yamakita [Vanderbilt] def. Panagiotidou [Arkansas] 6-2, 6-0
5. Webster [Vanderbilt] def. Babenko [Arkansas] 6-3, 6-4
6. Vijayakumar [Vanderbilt] def. J. Gomez Alonso [Arkansas] 6-4, 1-6, 11-9
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (4,3,1,2,5,6)
