NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team continued its great play Saturday as they went a combined 6-1 in singles play and 2-1 in doubles at the second day of the Fall SEC Coaches Classic. VU’s Catherine Newman, Jackie Wu, Keilly Ulery, Chelsea Preeg, Hannah Blatt and Megan Gornet registered singles wins Saturday.
“I am very pleased with our team’s effort and performance in these first two days of fall competition,” Head Coach Geoff Macdonald said. “We are competing at a high level and the main purpose of these fall tournaments is to prepare for the dual season in the spring.”
In doubles play, the duo of Steinbauer and Newman won their third straight match of the weekend as they defeated Florida’s Joanna Mather and Claire Bartlett, 9-7 en route to winning its respective draw. The match with the Gators went back and forth through the sets first seven games as UF held an early 4-3 lead over the Commodore duo, before Vanderbilt took the next three out of four games.
Vanderbilt’s tandem of Ulery and Blatt were also victories in doubles Saturday as they staged a great come-from-behind win over Ole Miss’ Connor Vogel and Pippa Reakes. The VU duo found itself down three games to love before they grabbed the momentum in the match over the next ten games as they closed out the match by winning eight of the last 10 games to finish 2-1 in doubles on the weekend.
Newman got the ball rolling for the ‘Dores in singles in the afternoon when she posted an impressive straight set win over Florida’s Anastasia Revzina, taking the match 6-3, 6-2. The Greensboro, N.C. native will carry her 2-0 record into tomorrow’s final match with Gators’ Allie Will.
After winning in straight sets on Friday, Vanderbilt’s Jackie Wu needed only 14 games to get by South Carolina’s Dijana Stojic to advance to the final of her respected draw. The sophomore standout will face Alabama’s Alexa Guarachi in tomorrow’s final match of the draw.
Ulery and Preeg registered outstanding three-set wins over a pair of Kentucky players. Preeg provided one of the most entertaining matches of the whole weekend Saturday as she went back and forth with UK senior Christine Johnston. After dropping the first set four games to six, Preeg turned up the heat as she made her opponent work for every point en route to taking the final two sets 6-3, 6-2.
“I thought Chelsea match was a great collegiate match,” Macdonald said. “Both players were playing solid tennis and Chelsea showed a lot of fight and effort after dropping the first set.”
While Preeg was staging a comeback, Ulery was in a tight battle of her own as she headed into a third and final set. After winning the first set 6-3, UK’s Lauren Meier took the second set 6-1, before the Vanderbilt junior closed out the match in the third, winning 6-4.
Fellow sophomore, Megan Gornet notched her first collegiate win Saturday as she recorded a 6-2, 6-3 win over Mississippi State’s Elizabeth Hall on the indoor courts while senior Hannah Blatt improved to 2-0 in singles with an impressive 6-3, 6-4 win over Gabriela Rangel of Ole Miss. Blatt will meet USC’s Miki Jocic (2-0) in tomorrow’s finals.
The SEC Coaches Classic will resume Sunday morning at 9 a.m. from the Currey Tennis Center on Vanderbilt’s campus. Each team will compete in singles play Sunday as the doubles play was completed Saturday morning.
Click on the Day Two Results link at the top of the page for the match-by-match results and updated draws.
