Vanderbilt University’s women’s tennis team secured a 4-1 victory over No. 11 South Carolina at the Lummis Family Tennis Center on Sunday. The win marks another strong performance for the Commodores, who recently defeated top-ranked Georgia.
Head coach Aleke Tsoubanos praised her team’s effort after the match. “That was a really good, quality win against a tough South Carolina team,” Tsoubanos said. “They competed really hard down to the wire, and they made some things pretty difficult for us in some spots. I commend the way they competed today.”
The Commodores started strong in doubles play, with Valeria Ray and Bridget Stammel earning a 6-0 shutout to claim the first match win of the day. After South Carolina leveled the score by winning at No. 1 doubles, Vanderbilt’s Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 victory.
“I thought we did a great job pulling through there to get that doubles point,” Tsoubanos said. “Things went pretty quickly at No. 2 doubles. Valeria and Bridget came out and played a very clean set. Erin and Mia had some tough games early on, and for them to be able to pull it back and find a way to close out the match was huge for us to secure that doubles point. It was another match where I thought we did a great job taking momentum from doubles into singles.”
In singles competition, Vanderbilt won four of six first sets across all courts. Graduate player Célia-Belle Mohr earned her sixth ranked victory this season by defeating Kaitlyn Carnicella 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, while Ray followed with a straight-set win over Sara Borkop.
“To get four first sets on six courts was also huge for us,” Tsoubanos said. “When you see your opponent put up the first singles point, it’s tough to see. We were able to put South Carolina in that position with the way Célia played against Carnicella. She really pulled away there in the second, and putting that second point up made things really difficult for South Carolina, knowing they’ve got five matches left and have almost no margin for error to find a path to victory.”
South Carolina managed one singles win before Stammel clinched both her own milestone—her 100th career singles victory—and Vanderbilt’s fourth point with a three-set triumph over Helena Buchwald.
“We had another incredible milestone today for Bridget Stammel, who reached 100 career singles wins,” Tsoubanos said. “That was special in itself, but to now have two players do that in back-to-back matches, both of which resulted in team victories, was outstanding. I am very, very proud of her and what she has done for this program.”
Looking ahead, Vanderbilt will face Mississippi State on Friday after completing their nine-match homestand.
“We’re certainly going to enjoy the results from this weekend and take a much-needed day to recover before getting right back to work,” Tsoubanos concluded. “We will be up against a challenge on Friday, heading down to Starkville to play in a tough environment against Mississippi State.”
