TUSCALOOSA – The No. 27 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team came up short in Tuscaloosa against No. 13 Alabama on Friday, dropping a 4-3 decision at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility.
Coach Aleke Tsoubanos shared, “I’m proud of the fight this team has. They gave it everything they had until the last point and it hurt because the difference between a team win or loss was a handful of points.”
Vanderbilt narrowly dropped the doubles point, winning the first match before falling in the second and third. Bridget Stammel and Valeria Ray opened doubles with a 6-4 win against Alabama’s duo of Anna Parkhomenko and Petra Sedlackova. Célia-Belle Mohr and Anessa Lee dropped their match to their Tide opponents, as did Sonya Macavei and Holly Staff on Court 3.
“Our doubles has been impressive most of the season and Bridget and VRay played very well, but we didn’t make the right adjustments soon enough to dig ourselves out in time at 1 and 3. Doubles can be so quick and I think positivity and energy is going to be important to have on all three courts going forward,” said Tsoubanos.
Mohr quickly picked up a straight-set win in singles against No. 31 Loudmilla Bencheikh, paving the way for the Dores to tie the match. Ola Pitak came over No. 42 Stammel on Court 3, picking up another point for Alabama. Amy Stevens and No. 122 Ray both went to three sets, taking back-to-back wins against Priya Nelson and Klara Milicevic, respectively, and putting the Commodores ahead by one, at 3-2. Lee and Staff battled it out on Courts 2 and 5, both going into a third set. Lee fell in the first set 7-5, picking up the second and falling in the third to No. 79 Sedlackova. Staff also fell in the third set to her Tide opponent after taking the first, but then dropping the last two and securing the victory for Alabama.
“Celia’s play in singles was just incredible, one of the cleanest matches I’ve seen her play this year. On 4 and 6 we won first sets and then lost the seconds, but Valeria and Amy were really impressive in their third sets to snag those two points for us,” Tsoubanos said.
“We will process this one in time but right now need to turn our attention to preparing for Auburn on Sunday.”
Singles
1. No. 17 Mohr (Vanderbilt) def. No. 31 Loudmilla Bencheikh 6-1, 6-2
2. No. 79 Sedlackova (Alabama) def. Lee 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
3. Ola Pitak (Alabama) def. No. 42 Stammel 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)
4. No. 122 Ray (Vanderbilt) def. Milicevic 6-0, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3
5. Parkhomenko (Alabama) def. Staff 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
6. Stevens (Vanderbilt) def. Nelson 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
Doubles
1. No. 37 Bencheikh/Anne Marie Hiser (Alabama) def. No. 16 Mohr/Lee 6-3
2. Stammel/Ray (Vanderbilt) def. Parkhomenko/Sedlackova 6-4
3. Pitak/Milicevic (Alabama) def. Staff/Macavei 7-5
Up Next: The Commodores continue their road trip, traveling to Auburn on Sunday.
