NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Chelsea Preeg and Keilly Ulery closed out a long weekend of tennis with big singles victories to lead the Commodores at the third and final day of the Fall SEC Coaches Classic Sunday. Vanderbilt finished the weekend going a combined 13-8 in singles and 7-2 in doubles.
“We played some great match play this weekend and this will really help us develop as a team and individually,” Head Coach Geoff Macdonald said. “These fall tournaments really show us what we still need to work on to get better. We faced tougher competition today so it was a good test for us.”
Preeg was the lone Commodore to end the weekend with an undefeated mark in singles play as she won her third match in as many days with a key straight set win (6-3, 6-4) over Tennessee’s Jennifer Meredith in the final match of the winner’s bracket. The sophomore from Naples, Fla., finished the weekend 3-0 in singles and 2-1 in doubles.
After dropping her first singles match of the weekend on Friday, Vanderbilt’s Ulery won her second straight match with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 over Mississippi’s Connor Vogel. Ulery and Vogel went back and forth through the first seven games of the first set with the Vanderbilt junior holding a tight 4-3 lead before Ulery closed out the first set by taking the next two games. The Wellington, Fla., native, carried that confidence and momentum into the second set as she jumped out to a 5-1 lead before winning the second set 6-2.
Senior Catherine Newman once again played one of the longer matches of the day with a showdown with Florida’s Allie Will on court one. After dropping the first set, 6-3, Newman staged a strong comeback in the match en route to taking the second set 6-4 to force a third set. Newman and Will battled back and forth in the final set before the Florida Gator outlasted Newman, taking the third set six love.
“Catherine battled and battled with Will from Florida but she couldn’t quite get over the hump,” Macdonald said. “Overall I thought she and the rest of the team had a good weekend in singles and doubles.”
The ‘Dores will return to fall competition on the weekend of Sept. 25-27 as they travel to Greenville, S.C., to partake in the highly-competitive Furman Fall Classic.
Click on the Final Results/Final Draw link at the top of the page for the official results of each singles and doubles match played this weekend in Nashville.
Sunday, September 13 (Vanderbilt Results)
Singles
Allie Will (UF) def. Catherine Newman (VU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
Keilly Ulery (VU) def. Connor Vogel (OM) 6-3, 6-2
Alexa Guarachi (ALA) def. Jackie Wu (VU) 6-3, 6-3
Chelsea Preeg (VU) def. Jennifer Meredith (UT) 6-3, 6-4
Christine Johnston (UK) def. Heather Steinbauer (VU) 7-6 (6), 6-0
Miki Jocic (USC) def. Hannah Blatt (VU) 6-0, 6-0
Katie Lee (UT) def. Megan Gornet (VU) 6-1, 6-3
