LEXINGTON, Ky. – Vanderbilt women’s tennis improved to 7-2 in conference play with a 4-3 clinch over SEC opponent Kentucky on Friday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center.
The Wildcats came out strong, quickly collecting the doubles point over the Commodores with victories on Courts 2 and 3.
Kentucky’s Lesedi Jacobs and Anastasia Tkachenko began by outpacing Commodore pair No. 37 Summer Dvorak and Fernanda Contreras, 6-3.
Clinching the doubles point for the Wildcats, Kentucky’s Tiphanie Fiquet and Diana Tkachenko overpowered Dore duo and No. 49-ranked Georgia Drummy and Christina Rosca, 6-4.
Eager to make a comeback in singles, No. 62-ranked freshman Georgia Drummy stepped up for the Commodores, dominating Court 2 to earn a straight-set 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jacobs, which tied the match for the Dores, 1-1.
No. 60 Fernanda Contreras topped Kentucky’s Justina Mikulskyte in the first set, 7-5, followed by a 6-2 victory in the second set to put the Commodores in the lead, 2-1, over the Wildcats.
Advancing the Dores lead to 3-1, junior Christina Rosca fought hard on Court 3 to defeat Kentucky’s Akvile Parazinskaite in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-6. In the second set, Rosca made a comeback after trailing 3-5 to earn a 7-5 victory over Parazinskaite.
The Wildcats earned a swift comeback with wins over No. 53 Amanda Meyer and Dvorak on Courts 4 and 6, respectively, to tie the match 3-3 with one court remaining.
Freshman Carolyn Campana fell short in the first set against Kentucky’s Diana Tkachenko, 2-6, but bounced back in the second set to split sets with Tkachenko, 6-4. With the match coming down to the final set, Campana clinched the match for the Dores, winning 7-5 to advance the Dores’ lead to 4-3.
“Being able to clinch for my team feels amazing. I live for these moments,” said Campana. “To have my teammates rooting me on, especially during the third set and knowing that they believed in me the whole time even when I was down 3-5 made it such a special moment for me. This match was really fun for me to compete in and I’m glad I could pull out a win for the team.”
Friday’s victory over Kentucky marks the Dores’ seventh conference win, improving the Commodores’ overall record to 12-5.
Vanderbilt returns to the Currey Tennis Center on Friday to face Mississippi State at 3:30 p.m.
Keep up with the Dores as they prepare to take on the Bulldogs by following @VandyWTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
