NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 18 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team earned their 10th consecutive win with a 7-0 sweep over conference foe Ole Miss on Friday afternoon at the Currey Tennis Center.
The Commodores (12-5, 5-0) held the Rebels (4-11, 0-4) winless through the doubles contest. VU sophomores Courtney Ulery and Liberty Sveke quickly finished at No. 3 with an 8-1 win, allowing Taka Bertrand and Catherine Newman to clinch the point with their 8-2 victory a few minutes later.
An Ole Miss forfeit at No. 3 put Vandy up 2-0 at the start of the singles contest. The Commodores followed with straight set wins across the board to complete the sweep.
The Commodores flew through the lower half of the lineup; Bertrand, Ulery and Sveke each had one shutout set. Bertrand successfully defended her undefeated SEC record with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Soledad Podlipnik.
Amanda Taylor defeated Nika Koukhartchouk at No. 2, marking her 15th win through 17 Commodore contests. Taylor’s last singles loss occurred February 1 at the ITA Indoors tournament.
Amanda Fish earned her third SEC win at No. 1 with a 7-6, 6-0 win over Mississippi’s Ilona Somers. Throughout the first set Fish and Ilona traded leads, with Ilona going up 6-5 before Fish rallied for the tiebreaker. Ilona was the first to lead in the breaker, but a double fault from Ilona and a break gave Fish the advantage and the 7-5 win.
Ilona, visibly frustrated, was unable to earn a game win in the second set.
The Commodores will look to complete a sweep of the SEC West with Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon. The match is scheduled for noon at the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville.
RESULTS
Vanderbilt 7, Ole Miss 0
Doubles
1. #26 Taylor/Fish (VU) d. Koukhartchouk/Tokarieva (UM) 8-3
2. Bertrand/Newman (VU) d. Podlipnik/Somers (UM) 8-2
3. Sveke/Ulery (VU) d. Subramanian/Cochran (UM) 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 2*1
Singles
1. #32 Amanda Fish (VU) d. Ilona Somers (UM) 7-6(5), 6-0
2. #33 Amanda Taylor (VU) d. Nika Koukhartchouk (UM) 6-0, 6-2
3. #34 Catherine Newman (VU) d. Kseniia Tokarieva (UM) 2-0, ret.
4. #102 Taka Bertrand (VU) d. Soledad Podlipnik (UM) 6-1, 6-0
5. Courtney Ulery (VU) d. Preethi Subramanian (UM) 6-0, 6-1
6. Liberty Sveke (VU) d. Carlin Cochran (UM) 6-2, 6-0
Order of finish: 3, 5, 4*, 6, 2, 1
