April 10, 2011
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Despite dropping the doubles point, the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team picked up four wins in singles play to upset 17th-ranked University of Arkansas Sunday afternoon.
Arkansas came out to a fast start in doubles, winning two of the matches 8-3. Keilly Ulery and Chelsea Preeg lost on court three, before the Hogs clinched the point on court one. With the point clinched, Jackie Wu and Lauren Mira retired on court two.
Although Arkansas held the advantage, and momentum, heading into singles play, Wu quickly evened the score with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Stefanie Roy in the No. 2 match. Arkansas wasted no time reclaiming the lead, as Rachael Dillon suffered a three-set loss to Claudine Paulson on court four.
Arkansas increased its lead to 3-1 when 22nd-ranked Anouk Tigu defeated Alex Leatu, 7-5, 6-3, on court one. With three matches remaining, the Commodores would have to win all three in order to win the match.
After splitting the first two sets, 6-4, 4-6, Preeg cruised to a 6-0 victory in the third set on court three for Vanderbilt earn its second win of the afternoon.
Ulery and Nelly Radeva both won their first set and dropped their second set, and played their opponent to a tiebreaker in the third set. Radeva and Jane Frampton tied several times before Radeva took the victory with a 9-7 win in the tiebreaker to even the match score at 3-3.
On court five, Keilly Ulery won her first set, 6-3, but Arkansas’ Emily Carbone took the second set, 5-7. After playing to a 6-6 tie in the third set, the two learned that their court would determine the outcome of the match. Ulery didn’t let the pressure get to her as she downed Carbone 7-5 in the tiebreaker, marking her third match-clinching victory of the season.
The Commodores will travel to Kentucky on Saturday for their final regular season match.
