April 12, 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The 18th-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores ended the No. 27 South Carolina women’s tennis team’s four-match unbeaten streak Friday in Nashville, Tenn., at the Currey Tennis Center. Vandy beat the Gamecocks 6-1 to improve to 14-9 and 7-5 in the SEC while dropping Carolina to 13-9 and 6-6 in league play.

South Carolina lost the doubles point for just the fifth time this season. Josefin Andersson and Katerina Popova finished first with an 8-5 victory over Vanderbilt’s Ashleigh Antal and Marie Casares at No. 2 doubles to improve to 18-8 on the season. The two teams were deadlocked at 5-all before Andersson and Popova managed to string three games together in their favor to earn the victory.

The Commodores responded with 21st-ranked Courtney Colton and Lauren Mira downing No. 35 Jaklin Alawi and Dominika Kanakova by an 8-4 count at the top position. Alawi and Kanakova fell behind 5-2 but managed to cut in to the deficit by getting the match back to 6-4. Colton and Mira then closed out the contest by claiming the next two games for the win.

Vanderbilt’s Frances Altick and Georgina Sellyn overtook Elixane Lechemia and Ximena Siles Luna on court three to give the Commodores a 1-0 advantage heading to singles. The two duos traded games back and forth to begin, but with the score tied at 3-all, Altick and Sellyn won five of the next six games to triumph over the Gamecocks.

Carolina lost the first set in four of the six singles contests and was unable to recover in any of the matches. Antal added Vandy’s second point of the match with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Siles Luna at the No. 5 singles position and No. 59 Mira upended No. 77 Alawi 6-2, 6-3 on court one to pull the Commodores within one of clinching the match. Casares then beat Kanakova at the No. 4 spot 7-5, 6-2 to give Vanderbilt a 4-0 lead and the overall team win.

Altick finished soon afterward with a 7-6, 6-2 triumph over Andersson at No. 6 singles to make the score 5-0. No. 108 Popova tried putting the Gamecocks on the board after winning the first set on court two versus Colton in a tiebreaker, but Colton responded by winning the second 6-4 and then claimed a super tiebreaker for Vandy’s sixth point. Lechemia closed the evening with a three-set victory against No. 83 Sellyn at No. 3 singles, winning a super tiebreaker for the third after the two split a pair of tiebreakers for the first and second sets. It was Lechemia’s second win in a row against a ranked opponent.

The Gamecocks will end the regular season in Lexington, Ky., on Sunday facing No. 47 Kentucky at noon.

SINGLES COMPETITION

	POS	SOUTH CAROLINA	VANDERBILT	WINNER	SCORE	FINISH
	1	#77 Jaklin Alawi	#59 Lauren Mira	Vanderbilt	6-2, 6-3	2
	2	#108 Katerina Popova	Courtney Colton	Vanderbilt	6-7 (5-7), 6-4, (10-7)	5
	3	Elixane Lechemia	#83 Georgina Sellyn	South Carolina	7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (3-7), (10-6)	6
	4	Dominika Kanakova	Marie Casares	Vanderbilt	7-5, 6-2	3
	5	Ximena Siles Luna	Ashleigh Antal	Vanderbilt	6-3, 6-4	1
	6	Josefin Andersson	Frances Altick	Vanderbilt	7-6 (7-3), 6-2	4

DOUBLES COMPETITION

	POS	SOUTH CAROLINA	VANDERBILT	WINNER	SCORE	FINISH
	1	#35 Alawi/Kanakova	#21 Colton/Mira	Vanderbilt	8-4	2
	2	Popova/Andersson	Antal/Casares	South Carolina	8-5	1
	3	Lechemia/Siles Luna	Altick/Sellyn	Vanderbilt	8-4	3