EVANSTON, Ill. – Catherine Newman, Chelsea Preeg and Erica Robertson all won their first singles matches of the spring season as the trio led the Commodores at the first day of the Wildcat Invitational on Friday. Vanderbilt finished the day 3-2 in doubles and 3-4 in singles.
The ‘Dores split the six singles matches against No. 45 DePaul and took two of the three doubles matches against the Blue Demons.
Newman topped DePaul’s Selma Salkovic in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) while Preeg and Robertson won in three sets. After dropping the opening set 2-6, Preeg countered by winning the second set 6-2 before putting the match away in the third with a convincing 6-1 set over Katarina Milinkovic.
Robertson started the spring campaign on the right track as she edged DePaul’s Kirsten Gambrell, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
In doubles, Vanderbilt won three of its five matches with DePaul. VU’s pair of Hannah Blatt and Rachael Dillon took down DU’s team of Katarina Milinkovic and Cali Gustafson 8-5 while Preeg and Robertson teamed up to beat Kirsten Gambrell and Sandra Zmak, 8-4.
The Commodores 40th-ranked tandem of Jackie Wu and Preeg captured VU’s third doubles win of the day with an 8-3 win over DePaul’s Anna Redecsi and Sandra Zmak.
Friday marked the first time since fall of 2008 that VU’s Dillon had competed in collegiate competition. The California-Berkeley transfer played her first two matches of her Commodore career on Friday after sitting out the fall season.
The second day of the Wildcat Invitational will resume on Saturday morning.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Singles Results
Anna Redecsi (DePaul) def. Keilly Ulery (VU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 31 Catherine Newman (VU) def. Selma Salkovic (DePaul) 6-2, 6-3
No. 32 Chelsea Preeg (VU) def. Katarina Milinkovic (DePaul) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1
Gia McKnight (DePaul) def. Rachael Dillon (VU) 6-3, 6-4
Sandra Zmak (DePaul) def. Hannah Blatt (VU) 6-4, 6-3
Erica Robertson (VU) def. Kirsten Gambrell (DePaul) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Brittany Wowchuk (Northwestern) def. Rachael Dillon (VU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
Doubles Results
Blatt/Dillon (VU) def. Gustafson/Milinkovic (DePaul) 8-5
Preeg/Robertson (VU) def. Gambrell/Zmak (DePaul) 8-4
No. 9 Salkovic/Redecsi (DePaul) def. Newman/Wu (VU) 8-2
No. 40 Wu/Preeg (VU) def. Redecsi/Zmak (DePaul) 8-3
Gustafson/Gambrell (DePaul) def. Gornet/Ulery (VU) 8-3
