NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 5 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team picked up its sixth top-25 victory Sunday afternoon, defeating the No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks, 5-2.
With the victory, Vandy improves to 13-5 overall and 8-1 Southeastern Conference play.
Vanderbilt began its eighth home match of the season breezing through doubles with victories on courts three then one.
On court three, Fernanda Contreras and Christina Rosca earned their second 6-0 sweep of the weekend, defeating Leolina Jeanjean and Agne Cepelyte. VU clinched the point as No. 8 Astra Sharma and Emily Smith earned another ranked win, only allowing No. 38 Giulia Parione and Shannon Hudson two games.
The Commodores came back out on court prepared for singles play, sweeping first sets.
Austin, Texas native Contreras gave VU the 2-0. The sophomore downed Sasha Shkorupeieva, 6-1, 6-2, on court six. Contreras remains undefeated at No. 6 singles in league play with a 6-0 mark. Ranked No. 5 in the country, Sharma defeated No. 48 Hudson, only allowing the top-50 player three games, 6-2, 6-1.
No. 12 Sydney Campbell came through for the Commodore clinch on court two. The senior edged No. 115 Ana Oparenovic to ensure the victory, 6-3, 6-4. The win was Campbell’s 95th career victory.
The Razorbacks earned their first point of the match following a third set a ten-point tiebreaker on court three against No. 93 Rosca. The Vandy freshman walked away with the first set 6-2, but No. 121 JeanJean had other ideas as the Arkansas student-athlete rallied to take the second set, 6-1 and the ten-point tiebreaker.
Kurtz earned Vanderbilt its fifth and final point. The freshman remains undefeated at No. 4 singles, 5-0 (4-0), picking up a hard fought, 7-5, 6-3 win against over junior Mia Jurasic. The win was the Atlanta native’s 25th.
Arkansas took the final match of the contest in another third set ten-point tiebreaker. In a tight match on court five, Georgina Sellyn earned the first set advantage over Pairone, 6-4. Using the loss as motivation, Pairone pulled off the second set, 6-4 and third set tiebreaker for the Hog’s second point.
The Commodores go on their final road trip of the season next weekend, facing Texas A&M on Friday and LSU on Sunday.
