NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team battled with one of the best team’s in the country until the final point of the last singles match, before falling, 4-3 in a tightly contested contest against fourth-ranked Notre Dame at the Currey Tennis Center Friday.
The 17th-ranked Commodores (7-5, 2-2 SEC) split the six singles matches with the Irish (13-2, 1-0 Big East) after Notre Dame won two of the three doubles matches to earn the doubles point.
Both teams appeared to be very evenly matched on Friday as both teams were within one point of each other the whole way.
“I am extremely proud of our team’s effort,” head coach Geoff Macdonald said. “I thought everyone battled out there and even though we lost some close matches today, everyone competed in what was a superb match that was played against a very good team. We just need to keep working hard and we will break through.”
The ‘Dores fell behind 1-0 for the third straight dual after the Irish posted wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Vanderbilt’s lone doubles win came at the No. 2 position when the duo of Catherine Newman and Erica Robertson defeated Chrissie McGaffigan and Shannon Mathews, 8-6. With the win Newman and Robertson improved to 5-4 overall and 4-3 in dual play.
Trailing 1-0 in the match heading into singles play, Vanderbilt quickly tied the match at 1-1 when Erica Robertson registered a straight set win over Collen Rielley at No. 6. With the win, Robertson improves to 3-0 in singles while playing at No. 6 this season. Friday’s singles match was Robertson first in dual competition since January 24, when she defeated Anna-Betty Kadar of Denver.
Minutes after Robertson’s match on court six, VU senior Catherine Newman gave the ‘Dores its first lead of the match when she knocked off Notre Dame’s 14th-ranked Kristy Frilling (6-3, 6-2) at No. 1. The win over Frilling was a monumental win for Newman on Friday, as it marked the 100th singles win of her storied career, a feat that only a handful of Commodores have accomplished. The Greensboro, N.C., native improved to 9-3 in duals this season and has won six of her last seven matches, including two over a pair of top-15 players.
The Irish eventually tied the match up 2-2, when No. 99 McGaffigan took down Keilly Ulery in consecutive sets and then went 3-2 in the meet when Kristen Rafael held off Hannah Blatt is three sets. Blatt won the first set 6-2, before Rafael battled back to take the second and third sets from the Commodore.
With two matches left in a dogfight, the Commodores trailed 3-2 with action still going on courts two and four.
The ‘Dores knotted things up at 3-3, when sophomore Chelsea Preeg netted a huge come-from-behind win over Shannon Mathews at No. 2 for her eighth win of the dual season. After dropping the first set 6-2, Preeg found her game in the second set, outworking her opponent from baseline to baseline, to earn a 6-2 win in the second set to set the tables for a decisive third. In the third set, Preeg quickly found herself down 4-1 before rallying to win five of the next six games to set up a third set tiebreaker where she would eventually edge Mathews 7-4 in the breaker for the hard-fought win.
With the match all knotted up at 3-3, the clinching point of the match came from court four when Notre Dame’s Cosmina Ciobanu edged Rachael Dillon in a hard-fought, three-plus hour match. Dillon won the first set 6-2 before falling 6-3 in the second and 7-5 in the third.
Vanderbilt will travel southeast to Atlanta tomorrow to get ready for a showdown with No. 36 Georgia Tech on Sunday. The Commodores and Yellow Jackets (7-5) match will get underway with doubles starting at 12 p.m. CT.
No. 4 Notre Dame 4, No. 17 Vanderbilt 3
March 19, 2010
Doubles
1. No. 4 Frilling / Krisk (ND) def. No. 27 Preeg / Wu 8-3
2. Newman / Robertson (VU) def. Matthews / McGaffigan (ND) 8-6
3. Ciobanu / Rielley (ND) def. Blatt / Dillon (VU) 8-6
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. No. 38 Catherine Newman (VU) def. No. 14 Kristy Frilling 6-3, 6-2
2. No. 76 Chelsea Preeg (VU) def. No. 108 Shannon Mathews (ND) 2-6, 6-2, 6-6(7-4)
3. No. 99 Christine McGaffigan (ND) def. Keilly Ulery (VU) 6-4, 6-3
4. Cosmina Ciobanu (ND) def. Rachael Dillon (VU) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
5. Kristen Rafael (ND) def. Hannah Blatt (VU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
6. Erica Robertson (VU) def. Colleen Rielley (ND) 6-4, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 1, 3, 5, 2, 4*
