STARKVILLE, Miss. – The 19th-ranked Vanderbilt women’s tennis team dominated its match with Mississippi State from the start as they cruised to a 7-0 sweep of the Lady Bulldogs (8-3, 1-1 SEC) at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre on Sunday afternoon. The Commodores won all nine (3 doubles, six singles) matches en route to its 21st consecutive win over Mississippi State.
Vanderbilt’s win also snapped MSU’s seven-match dual winning streak.
“I thought we played a real complete match today against a solid Mississippi State team,” head coach Geoff Macdonald said. “It was our second time playing outdoors all season and it was nice to see everyone in our lineup play a complete match. We had a tough loss on Friday so it was important for us to bounce back and get a win on the road in the SEC.”
The Commodores, (6-3, 1-1 SEC) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after they swept the doubles point. VU’s Erica Robertson and Catherine Newman improved to 2-0 in SEC play with an 8-2 win over Mississippi State’s Radka Ferancova and Mariia Ryzova at the No. 2 position. VU’s No. 1 tandem of Heather Steinbauer and Rachael Dillon clinched the doubles point for the ‘Dores after knocking off MSU’s Olesya Tsigvintseva and Natalia Mayuk, 8-3 on court one. With the doubles point already clinched, VU’s Chelsea Preeg and Keilly Ulery registered an 8-3 win over Danielle Terpko and Valeriya Makarycheva at the No. 3 position.
Vanderbilt carried its momentum into singles play as they captured wins on all six courts.
Newman gave the ‘Dores a 2-0 lead in the match when she won 12 of 13 games to capture a 6-1, 6-0 win over Tsigvintseva at No. 1. VU extended its lead to 3-0 when Ulery notched a straight set win over Ryzova (7-5, 6-0) at No. 4 before Preeg clinched the match for the ‘Dores, winning 6-1, 6-3 over Ferancova at No. 2, giving VU a 4-0 lead with three courts left to play.
Leading 4-0, Dillon tacked on another point for the Commodores, dispatching MSU’s Makarycheva in three sets on court five. After dropping the first set 4-6, Dillon found her grove in the second and third set, winning six-love, six-love to earn the win.
Senior Hannah Blatt remained undefeated in SEC play Sunday, notching a tightly-contested win over Terpko at the No. 6. Blatt won the opening set 6-0 before falling in the second set tiebreaker to force a super set break. The two were neck-in-neck in the super set before Blatt outlasted Terpko 10-8 for the victory. With the win, Blatt improves to 15-9 overall and 5-1 in dual play.
Like Dillon, Steinbauer also fell in the opening set (1-6), before rebounding to win 12 of the final 15 games in the match to earn a solid three set win on court three in the final match of the day. Sunday marked the first time in Steinbauer’s career that she played at No. 3.
The 19th-ranked Commodores will return to the courts next Friday when they play host to in-state rival Tennessee. The match with the Lady Vols will get underway at 2:30 p.m. CT from the Currey Tennis Center. The ‘Dores will look to get even with the Lady Vols after dropping a tough 4-3 decision to them at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend final on Jan. 30.
No. 19 Vanderbilt 7, No. 72 Mississippi State 0
March 7, 2010
Doubles
1. Dillon / Steinbauer (VU) def. Tsigvintseva / Mayuk (MSU) 8-3
2. Robertson / Newman (VU) def. Ferancova / Ryzhova (MSU) 8-2
3. Preeg / Ulery (VU) def. Makarycheva / Terpko (MSU) 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1. No. 67 Catherine Newman (VU) def. Olesya Tsigvintseva (MSU) 6-1, 6-0
2. No. 85 Chelsea Preeg (VU) def. Radka Ferancova (MSU) 6-1, 6-3
3. No. 107 Heather Steinbauer (VU) def. Natalia Mayuk (MSU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-0
4. Keilly Ulery (VU) def. Mariia Ryzova (MSU) 7-5, 6-0
5. Rachael Dillon (VU) def. Valeriya Makarycheva (MSU) 4-6, 6-0, 6-0
6. Hannah Blatt (VU) def. Danielle Terpko (MSU) 6-0, 6-7(3), 10-7
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 2, 5, 6, 3
