ATLANTA – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team won the doubles point for the first time in four matches on Sunday afternoon, but Georgia Tech (9-5) won four of the six singles matches to edge the Commodores, 4-3 at the Bill Moore Tennis Center in Atlanta.
The 4-3 win for the Yellow Jackets on Sunday marked the third straight time the series with the Commodores had been decided by one point. Vanderbilt knocked off No. 2 Georgia Tech, 4-3 in Atlanta in 2008 while the Yellow Jackets won last year’s meeting, 4-3 in Nashville.
The Commodores (7-6) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after they took two of three from the Yellow Jackets in doubles. VU’s Catherine Newman and Hannah Blatt teamed up for the first time this spring defeating Georgia Tech’s team of Elizabeth Kilborn and Viet Ha Ngo, 8-5 on court three before Chelsea Preeg and Jackie Wu clinched the point for the Commodores with a 8-6 win over Sasha Krupina and Hillary Davis at No. 1. With the win, Preeg and Wu improved to a team best 22-5 overall and 5-1 in dual play.
After doubles, Georgia Tech tied the match at one when the nation’s top-ranked player Irina Falconi defeated 38th-ranked Newman at No. 1.
Vanderbilt retook the lead when Preeg registered a solid three-set win against Krupina at No. 2. Preeg, who played in her third three-set match in her last four outings on Sunday won the first set 6-2, before Krupina made things interesting by taking the second set 6-3 to force a deciding third set. Preeg rebounded in the third set and played great tennis en route to a 6-1 win in the third to give the `Dores 2-1 lead.
The Yellow Jackets then tied the match at 2-2 when they posted a win on court three. However, the Commodores retook the lead for the final time when Rachael Dillon notched a straight set win over Lynn Blau, 7-6, 6-4, to give Vanderbilt a 3-2 lead.
The Commodores led 3-2 with two singles matches left to be played before the Yellow Jackets closed out the match by posting wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles.
Out of Vanderbilt’s six losses this season five of them have been 4-3 setbacks.
Vanderbilt will return to conference action next Friday when they travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to play the Crimson Tide. The Commodores have won 15 straight dual matches over the Tide dating back to 1995. Friday’s match with Alabama will start at 3 p.m. CT.
No. 36 Georgia Tech 4, No. 17 Vanderbilt 3
March 21, 2010
Doubles
1. No. 27 Preeg / Wu def. Krupina / Davis (GT) 8-6
2. Blau / Falconi (GT) def. Dillon / Robertson (VU) 8-2
3. Newman / Blatt (VU) def. Kilborn / Ha Ngo (GT) 8-5
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. No. 1 Irina Falconi (GT) def. No. 38 Catherine Newman (VU) 6-2, 6-1
2. No. 76 Chelsea Preeg (VU) def. Sasha Krupina (GT) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
3. Viet Ha Ngo (GT) def. Keilly Ulery (VU) 7-5, 7-5
4. Rachael Dillon (VU) def. Lynn Blau (GT) 7-6, 6-4
5. Elizabeth Kilborn (GT) def. Erica Robertson (VU) 6-2, 6-4
6. Hillary Davis (GT) def. Hannah Blatt (VU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6*
