NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt women’s tennis opened its annual June Stewart Invitational with four singles victories and a pair of doubles wins on their home courts Friday at the Currey Tennis Center.
Dasha Kourkina, Anna Ross, Holly Staff and Yufei Long each won their singles matches while the pairs of Long and MaryAnn Rompf and Marcella Cruz with Anessa Lee each won their doubles match.
“Overall, it was a great first day,” head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said. “We had a couple good wins in doubles and nearly had third. And we fought really hard in singles. We found ourselves in two third sets—after winning first sets—and to be able to regroup and pull out both of those was really impressive.
“Dasha (Kourkina) played a really clean match, and I thought Anna (Ross) played really well in her singles match—once she found her gear early in the second set, she didn’t look back and I’m really proud of her finishing that way.”
Kourkina and Ross won in straight sets. Kourkina worked a decisive sweep against her Illinois counterpart, 6-2, 6-1, while Ross pulled out a 7-5 win in her opening set and then cruised 6-0 to close out the match.
Staff started with a 6-4 win before dropping the second set 6-1. She bounced back to win the deciding set, 6-4. Meanwhile, Long was in a similar situation after an opening 6-4 win. She then dropped the middle set, 6-0, before a dominant 6-1 win to clinch her match.
In doubles play, Long/Rompf defeated Urrutia/Stevens of Kentucky, 6-4, while Cruz/Lee topped Kentucky’s Morante/Girbau, 6-2.
Competition resumes Saturday at 10 a.m. with singles play. The full remaining weekend schedule is below.
Fans can follow Vanderbilt women’s tennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @VandyWTennis.
Vanderbilt Results
Kourkina (Vandy) def. Ferrari (Illinois), 6-2, 6-1
Ross (Vandy) def. Frazier (Illinois), 7-5, 6-0
Staff (Vandy) def. Duong (Illinois), 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
Long (Vandy) def. Treiber (Illinois), 6-4, 0-6, 6-1
Heuser (Illinois) def. Stevens (Vandy), 6-4, 6-2
Yeah (Illinois) def. Cruz (Vandy), 6-4, 6-1
Hsieh (ISU) def. Rompf (Vandy), 6-3, 6-2
Long/Rompf (Vandy) def. Urrutia/Stevens (Kentucky), 6-4
Cruz/Lee (Vandy) def. Morante/Girbau (Kentucky), 6-2
Kezuka/Hsieh (ISU) def. Kourkina/Stevens (Vandy), 6-4
Arrese/Gonzalez (Kentucky) def. Ross/Staff (Vandy), 7-6
Full Results
Kezuka (ISU) def. Popova (Lipscomb), 6-1, 6-0
Dobramos (Lipscomb) Ingle (Illinois),
Achong (Miami) def. Urrutia (Kentucky), 6-3, 6-3
Dimovska (Miami) def. Gonzalez (Kentucky), 7-5, 6-4
Khoden (Miami) def. Arrese (Kentucky), 7-5, 7-5
Tahan (Miami) def. Morante (Kentucky), 3-6, 6-0, 6-4
Boch-Collins (Miami) def. Molina (Kentucky), 6-1, 2-6, 6-2
Richardson (Miami) def. Stevens (Kentucky), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Cabezas (ISU) def. Gibrau (Kentucky), 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
Achong/Richardson (Miami) def. Duong/Frazier (Illinois), 6-1
Tahan/Khodan (Miami) def. Heuser/Yeah (Illinois), 7-5
Boch-Collins/Pfennig (Miami) def. Ferrari/Treiber (Illinois), 6-3
Popova/Trbeznik (Lipscomb) def. Ingle/Casati (Illinois), 6-0
Competition Schedule
Saturday
10 a.m. — Vandy vs. Miami/Iowa State singles
Noon — Doubles Vanderbilt vs. Illinois & Miami/Iowa State vs. Kentucky
1 p.m. — Illinois vs. Kentucky
Sunday
9 a.m. — Miami/ISU vs. Illinois singles
11 a.m. — Doubles Vanderbilt vs. Miami/Iowa State and Illinois vs. Kentucky
Noon — Vanderbilt vs. Kentucky singles
