No. 8 Women's Tennis Drops Heartbreaker to No. 4 Duke, 4-3 1/26/03

DURHAM, N.C. - The eighth-ranked Vanderbilt women’s tennis team (6-1) dropped its first dual match of 2003, as it fell to fourth-ranked Duke (3-0) in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center, 4-3.

Vanderbilt gave Duke all it could handle on Sunday, as the Blue Devils are possibly the deepest team in the country with seven players ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association top 100.

After dropping the critical doubles point, the Commodores rebounded by winning three of the next four singles matches to take a 3-2 lead. Vanderbilt hopes were now on the shoulders of senior Sarah Riske and freshman Ashley Schellhas. If either of them could pull out a victory, the Commodores would claim the upset.    

Riske’s match against No. 2-ranked Kelly McCain at the No. 1 position, and Schellhas’ match with former Vanderbilt player Katie Blaszak at the No. 5 spot were both stretched to three sets and determine the outcome of the dual match. 

In the Riske-McCain match, Vanderbilt’s only senior was able to jump out to early one set lead (6-3), but McCain clawed back to take the second, 6-3. The third and decisive set was determined by one break of serve, which McCain was able to steal away and take the third and final set, 6-4. In probably the most exciting match of the day, Schellhas and Blaszak battled for three tough and grueling sets. Blaszak was able to take the first set 6-4, but Schellhas battled back to win the second in a marathon tie-breaker, 13-11. With the match coming down to a third set, Blaszak was able to grab the early advantage and win the set, 6-2. For Schellhas it was her first dual-match loss and only her second loss of the 2002-03 season.   
    
Vanderbilt three wins came from juniors Kelly Schmandt, Aleke Tsoubanos and sophomore Audra Falk. All three easily defeated their opponents, who were all ranked in the ITA top 65. The Vanderbilt trio only surrendered nine games in their three matches. Tsoubanos, Schmandt and Falk are a combined 20-1 this dual-match season.

On Saturday, the Commodores defeated No. 51-ranked Pennsylvania, 7-0, in Durham, N.C.

The women’s tennis team will look to rebound from Sunday’s loss, as it returns to action at 2:30 p.m. Friday, January 31, against No. 57-ranked Iowa at the Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center. Admission for the match is free.

Singles

Doubles