Women's Tennis Notches Eighth Dual-Match Win; Defeats Tulsa, 7-0 2/2/03

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Even with the eighth-ranked Vanderbilt women's tennis team scoring a 7-0 sweep against No. 56-ranked Tulsa on Sunday afternoon at the Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center, the win did not come without a fight from the visiting Golden Hurricanes.

With the win, the Commodores move to 8-1 on the season, while the Golden Hurricanes fall to 2-1.

Vanderbilt did not waste any time in picking up the critical doubles point, as all three matches were done in under an hour. Senior Sarah Riske and junior Aleke Tsoubanos continued their domination, as they picked up an 8-3 win over Alicia Pillay and Aleks Durska. The duo is now 9-0 in dual matches and 18-1 for the 2002-03 season.

Junior Kelly Schmandt and sophomore Audra Falk went unscathed in their match, as they defeated Daniela Muscolino and Mariana Barrios, 8-0. At the No. 3 position, junior Kori Scott and freshman Ashley Schellhas defeated Tiffany Smith and Donata Majauskaite, 8-2.

While the doubles matches were not that close, three of six singles matches were highly competitive. At the No. 1 spot, Riske fell behind 5-2 early on Pillay in the first set, but stormed back by winning the next five games to take the set, 7-5. With the momentum on Riske's side, she was able to break Pillay's serve in the first game of the second set and take the early advantage. Riske was able to cruise from there, as she won the set, 6-2.

At the No. 4 position, Falk put her 2002-03 undefeated streak on the line against Muscolino. Muscolino jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead, as she used a variety of shots to frustrate Falk. Pillay picked up an early break to start the second set, and seemed to have Falk on the ropes. The Vanderbilt sophomore never gave up, and was able to battle back to take the second set, 6-3. In the third set, neither player was able to grab the advantage until the ninth game of the set. With the set tied at 4-4, Falk was able to break Muscolino's serve and take the lead. She was then able to hold her serve and claim the match. With the win, Falk is now 9-0 in dual matches and 14-0 for the 2002-03 season.

Tsoubanos and Durska had a very competitive match at the No. 2 position. While the Vanderbilt junior won in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, she had to hold off a late charge by Durska after leading 5-2 in the set.

In the other three singles matches, Schmandt, Schellhas and Scott were able to breeze to straight-set wins. Like Falk, Schmandt remained undefeated in dual-match action with her win over Majauskaite.

The Commodores will now be off for two weeks before taking on Georgia Tech on February 15 at the Currey Tennis Center.

Singles

Doubles