The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team advanced to the NCAA Super Regional after defeating Clemson 4-1 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Lummis Family Tennis Center on May 2.
This marks the second time in three seasons, and third in five years, that Vanderbilt has reached this stage. The victory highlights a strong season for the Commodores, who have set high goals and demonstrated consistent performance throughout their campaign.
Head coach Aleke Tsoubanos said, “It means a lot. We have a pretty seasoned team with a bunch of returners, with Célia kind of leading the way and Bridget another senior. This is a team that has had some pretty big goals going back to the fall, this is what they’ve worked for all year. And to be able to come in here and play a really good, feisty, talented, competitive Clemson team, we’ve played a match that’s felt like this many, many times this season. That’s kind of the blessing, in a way, of being in the SEC, you’ve seen matches like this a lot already.”
Célia-Belle Mohr was notable for securing wins in both singles and doubles play. Mohr and Valeria Ray earned straight-set victories on Courts 1 and 3 respectively to give Vanderbilt an early advantage. Although Clemson attempted to rally with Artemis Aslanisvili winning at No. 5 singles and momentum shifting on Court 4 after rain moved play indoors mid-match, Bridget Stammel clinched victory for Vanderbilt by taking her match following an extended tiebreaker.
Tsoubanos added about key moments: “I think the doubles point obviously was very important; winning those matches a minute or two after coming inside helped us grab momentum… As I said to the team after, there was no bigger first set than the one on Bridget’s court because you could just feel Clemson kind of mounting a comeback with a belief… But that became much more difficult with Bridget getting that set and then getting out to a huge lead there in the second.”
Vanderbilt will next face either Ohio State or Notre Dame in its upcoming Super Regional matchup.
