NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team used a complete team effort en route to a 7-0 sweep over No. 50 Auburn on a cold and windy day at the outdoor tennis courts of the Currey Tennis Center Sunday. The 7-0 sweep against Auburn marks the second SEC opponent the `Dores have swept this season and its first sweep of the Tigers since March 5, 2006.
With the win on Sunday, the Commodores (9-6, 4-2 SEC) have now won 18 straight duals against Auburn, with 17 of them coming under current head coach Geoff Macdonald.
The `Dores jumped out to an early 1-0 lead for the second time in its last five matches after it posted wins at No. 3 and No. 1 doubles to capture the doubles point. The senior-junior tandem of Hannah Blatt and Rachael Dillon made quick work of Plamena Kurteva and Paulina Schippers on court No. 3, sweeping the Tiger duo 8-0.
After Auburn notched a win at No. 2 doubles, it was up to VU’s No. 1 team of Chelsea Preeg and Jackie Wu to get the job done and the sophomore tandem battled back from three games down to earn a hard fought win against Caroline Thornton and Merta Myrthe. Despite falling behind 3-0 in the match, the Commodore tandem responded by winning eight of the final 10 games to earn the 8-5 victory.
With a 1-0 lead heading into singles action, Vanderbilt inched closer to clinching the dual when Blatt took down Kurteva at No. 6, winning 6-0, 6-2 for her second singles win of the weekend. With the win Blatt improves to 8-3 overall, including a team best 5-0 in conference.
“I thought Hannah played superb tennis in singles and doubles today,” Macdonald noted. “She has been consistent in the lineup for us and I like the way she is playing at this point of the season.”
The Commodores extended its lead to 3-0 when Wu breezed to a straight set win over Molenveld at No. 3, winning 6-2, 6-1 in what was her first home singles match since VU hosted Yale on Feb. 21. The Holmdel, N.J., native is now 7-1 in dual play, including 2-0 in the SEC.
Leading 3-0 with four singles matches left to be determined, the `Dores wasted little time In clinching the match as Keilly Ulery for the second straight dual, clinched the match when she registered a 6-3, 6-2 win over Thornton on court four. Ulery’s win on Sunday closes out a strong weekend for the junior, who improved to 4-2 in conference this weekend with a pair of match-clinching wins.
With the match already in hand, Vanderbilt continued to battle to the end of every point en route to winning the final three singles matches of the day.
Minutes after Ulery had clinched the dual, VU’s No. 38 Catherine Newman and 76th-ranked Preeg closed out a pair of gritty straight set wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Preeg defeated Daniela Vukadinovic (6-2, 6-4) while Newman outlasted All-American and 46th-ranked Chifchieva on court one (6-4, 7-5). Newman trailed 2-4 in the second set before winning five of the next six games to earn the hard fought victory. With the wins on Sunday, Preeg improves to 10-5 in dual play, including 4-2 in the SEC while Newman betters her spring mark to 11-4 overall and 5-1 in league play.
VU’s Rachael Dillon sealed the sweep for the Commodores when she posted an exciting superset tiebreaker win against Jil Hastenrath on court five. After dropping the first set 7-5 and finding herself down 3-1 in the second, Dillon regrouped to win the next five games of the second set, setting up a superset tiebreaker where she would edge the Tiger 13-11 for her seventh win of the dual season.
“Today’s match was a really good team effort, Macdonald said. “We have had a lot of close matches this year and I think some things broke our way today. It was kind of nice to not have another nail-biting 4-3 match. Obviously the match was much closer than the final score indicated but we were able to close out some tight matches in both singles and doubles.”
The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team will travel to Gainesville, Fla., and Columbia, S.C., next weekend for road matches with fourth-ranked Florida and 20th-ranked South Carolina. The Commodores will play the Gators at 5 p.m. CT on Friday and South Carolina at 12 p.m., on Sunday.
No. 29 Vanderbilt 7, No. 50 Auburn 0
March 28, 2010
Singles
1. No. 38 Catherine Newman (VU) def. No. 46 Fani Chifchieva (AU) 6-4, 7-5
2. No. 76 Chelsea Preeg (VU) def. Daniela Vukadinovic (AU) 6-2, 6-4
3. No. 24 Jackie Wu (VU) def. Myrthe Molenveld (AU) 6-2, 6-1
4. Keilly Ulery (VU) def. Caroline Thornton (AU) 6-3, 6-2
5. Rachael Dillon (VU) def. Jil Hastenrath (AU) 5-7, 6-3(13-11)
6. Hannah Blatt (VU) def. Plamena Kurteva (AU) 6-0, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6, 3, 4, 2, 1, 5
Doubles
1. No. 27 Wu / Preeg (VU) def. Molenveld / Thornton (AU) 8-5
2. Chifchieva / Hastenrath (AU) def. Newman / Robertson (VU) 8-2
3. Blatt / Dillon (VU) def. Kurteva / Schippers (AU) 8-0
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
