GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team saved its best performance of the weekend for the last day of the Furman Fall Classic as it went 5-3 in singles play to close out a long weekend of tennis Sunday. VU’s Jackie Wu, Chelsea Preeg, Keilly Ulery, Hannah Blatt and Heather Steinbauer were all victorious in singles Sunday.
Wu and Preeg closed out the weekend with an undefeated mark of 3-0 in singles as they returned to Nashville as the champions of their respected eight-player draws. Wu defeated Tennessee’s Maria Sorbello in straight sets while Preeg edged Florida State’s Francesca Segareli in three sets. Both Wu and Preeg’s first sets of its respected match went into tie breakers as Wu won her tiebreaker 8-3 while Preeg swept the tiebreaker from Segareli. With the wins Sunday, Wu pushes her fall singles mark to 5-1 while Preeg remains undefeated at 6-0.
Keilly Ulery wrapped up the weekend with a solid 2-1 performance in singles action, including a win over South Carolina’s Josefin Andersson in consecutive sets Sunday. The junior from Wellington, Fla., won her first set, six-love before clinching the fifth place match with a 6-2 advantage in the second set. With the win, Ulery improves to 4-2 this fall.
Senior Hannah Blatt improved to 3-2 this season with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 win over Furman’s Susan Bitetti Sunday while sophomore Heather Steinbauer battled back after dropping her first two singles matches of the weekend by dispatching Furman’s Jennifer Betts in consecutive sets (6-0, 6-2) Sunday.
The ‘Dores will return to hard courts next week as they will split up the squad as some will head west to compete in the Riveria ITA All-Americans (Oct. 6-11) while the rest of the squad will compete at the Kentucky Invitational (Oct. 9-11).
Sunday, September 27 Results
Singles Results
Flight One
Anna Morgina (South Carolina) def. No. 46 Catherine Newman (VU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
Flight Two
No. 38 Jackie Wu (VU) def. Maria Sorbello (Tennessee) 7-6(3), 6-4
Flight Three
Chelsea Preeg (VU) def. Francesca Segareli (Florida State) 7-6, 2-6, 6-3
Flight Four
Keilly Ulery (VU) def. Josefin Andersson (South Carolina) 6-0, 6-2
Flight Five
Hannah Blatt (VU) def. Susan Bitetti (Furman) 6-4, 6-1
Flight Six
Heather Steinbauer (VU) def. Jennifer Betts (Furman) 6-0, 6-2
Flight Seven
Haley Hemm (UNC) def. Erica Robertson (VU) 6-2, 6-3
Flight Eight
Linda Abu Mushraf (Northwestern) def. Megan Gornet (VU) 6-0, 6-3
