NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt Commodores went 2-0 in their opening weekend of conference play as they beat the LSU Lady Tigers 7-0 on Sunday for their second sweep of the weekend.
“This has been a great opening weekend for the women,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “They came out ready to play and they really fought out there. It’s good to get two wins to start the conference, especially in the SEC.”
Vanderbilt clinched the doubles point for a 1-0 lead as Marie Casares and Nelly Radeva beat Ariel Morton and Ebie Wilson 8-5 on court three. Ashleigh Antal and Lauren Mira had previously won 8-3 on court one.
Jackie Wu and Alex Leatu completed the sweep in doubles with a 7-5 tiebreaker over Olivia Howlett and Yvette Vlaar after coming back from being down match point at 7-6 in the set to win.
Casares and Mira came out in singles in a race to see who could finish their sets first. They each won in straight sets to put the Dores up 3-0 on the court. With that, Radeva, clinched the match 6-4, 6-2 on her court.
Leatu found herself struggling, down 5-1 in her first set, but came back in her typically fiery way to win 7-5, 6-1 in a momentous shift. With the Dores up 5-0, Wu battled her way back from being in a position to split her sets to win 6-0, 6-4.
“Being down 5-1 in the first set, I thought to myself, get yourself together, Alex,” said Leatu. “Wake up, you don’t just let matches slip away like this. That’s not who I am. I get mad and that pretty much signals a comeback whenever I’m down.”
With the sweep on the line, Antal split her sets 6-1, 4-6, forcing a tiebreaker. Tied at 7-7 in the tiebreaker, she won two points, the second on a let shot, before beating her opponent cross-court for the win.
“It feels great winning 14 matches in one weekend,” said Leatu. “We are all in a good rhythm and have awesome team chemistry going into this weekend with Florida and South Carolina. All my Dores did a great job staying focused, hungry, and humble. We’re all fighting for each other when we’re out on the court. We find strength from the teammates next to us when we fell like we can’t garner any ourselves.”
The Commodores improve to 2-0 in the SEC and take to the road next weekend for matches in Gainesville against the Lady Gators on Friday and in Columbia against the Gamecocks on Sunday.
Results:
Singles:
1. Jackie Wu (VU) def. Whitney Wolf (LSU) 6-0, 6-4
2. Lauren Mira (VU) def. Olivia Howlett (LSU) 6-1, 6-1
3. Alex Leatu (VU) def. Kaitlin Burns (LSU) 7-5, 6-1
4. Marie Casares (VU) def. Ebie Wilson (LSU) 6-1, 6-0
5. Ashleigh Antal (VU) vs. Keri Frankenberger (LSU) 6-1, 4-6, 1-0(10-7)
6. Nelly Radeva (VU) def. Yvette Vlaar (LSU) 6-4, 6-2*
Doubles:
1. Antal-Mira (VU) def. Wolf-Frankenberger (LSU) 8-3
2. Wu-Leatu (VU) def. Howlett-Vlaar (LSU) 8-7 (7-5)
3. Casares-Radeva (VU) def. Morton-Wilson (LSU) 8-5
Match Notes:
#35 Vanderbilt, 10-4 (2-0)
#43 LSU, 6-3 (1-1)
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3,2), Singles (4,2,6,3,1,5)
