NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 18 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team successfully defended its undefeated SEC record with a 6-1 win over Mississippi State Sunday afternoon in Nashville.
The Commodores (13-5, 6-0) continued their stellar doubles performance with three wins to take the point. Tandems of Taka Bertrand/Catherine Newman at No. 2 and Courtney Ulery/Liberty Sveke at No. 3 are undefeated in conference doubles play.
Vanderbilt didn’t allow Mississippi State (5-8, 1-5) any breathing room, holding Bulldogs competitors to two sets at Nos. 2-6. Bertrand, Ulery, and Sveke all wrapped up play within five minutes of each other to clinch the win early the in match.
“We were able to get ahead and stay ahead,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Geoff Macdonald said. “We continued to play aggressive tennis. No one was satisfied with having the lead, they pushed through to win convincingly.”
Maintaining aggressive play will be crucial as the Vanderbilt begins SEC East play next weekend with No. 31 Tennessee and top ranked Georgia, followed by No. 34 South Carolina and No. 2 Florida on April 6 and 8.
At the top of the lineup, MSU’s Martina Banikova earned her second consecutive SEC win with the super tiebreaker edge over Vandy’s Amanda Fish. Banikova also notched the only singles win for Mississippi State against Kentucky just two days earlier.
After winning by default on Friday afternoon, VU’s Catherine Newman returned to action to soundly defeat Daniela Juskova 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3. Junior Amanda Taylor defeated Lady Bulldog Elna de Villiers 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 to complete her undefeated SEC West singles record.
The Commodores will travel to Knoxville to face the Vols on Friday, March 30, followed by Georgia on Sunday, April 1.
RESULTS
#18 Vanderbilt 6, Mississippi State 1
Doubles
1. #26 Taylor/Fish (VU) d. Banikova/Makarycheva (MSU) 8-3
2. Bertrand/Newman (VU) d. de Villieres/Saddler (MSU) 8-1
3. Ulery/Sveke (VU) d. Joseph/Juskova (MSU) 8-3
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. Martina Banikova (MSU) d. #32 Amanda Fish (VU) 2-6, 6-4, 10-3
2. #33 Amanda Taylor (VU) d. Elna de Villiers (MSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. #34 Catherine Newman (VU) d. Daniela Juskova (MSU) 6-1, 6-1
4. #102 Taka Bertrand (VU) d. Renee Joseph (MSU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Courtney Ulery (VU) d. DeAndra Saddler (MSU) 6-3, 6-2
6. Liberty Sveke (VU) d. Valeriya Makarycheva (MSU) 6-2, 6-0
Order of finish: 4, 6, 5*, 2, 3, 1
