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Vanderbilt Vanquishes Virginia & Stanford Out Muscles Michigan

by | May 22, 2016 | Blog | 4 comments

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One half of the women’s semifinals are set after both Vanderbilt and Stanford came through their respective quarterfinal matches against Virginia and Michigan.

While the scores of the two matches look fairly similar in reality they didn’t have much in common. Vanderbilt absolutely crushed Virginia in doubles winning at both No. 2 and No. 3 by 6-0 scores. The match at No. 2 finished in 24 minutes while the match at No. 3 took 26 minutes.

Vanderbilt won four opening sets in singles and was really in control of this match from start to finish. Virginia’s biggest highlight came from Danielle Collins at No. 1 as the ITA second-ranked player destroyed Sydney Campbell 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 in a match that took just 54 minutes.

Just four minutes later Vanderbilt sophomore Fernanda Contreras would close out Erica Susi 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 and the Commodores were back in front 2-1.

Vanderbilt still had set leads on three of the four remaining courts and they were up breaks in the second set on all three. Vanderbilt redshirt sophomore Astra Sharma would make it 3-1 after she dispatched Stephanie Nauta 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3.

Vanderbilt’s Frances Altick had a comfortable 6-4, 4-0 lead at No. 2 but Virginia’s Julia Elbaba would hold on the deciding point and then break for 2-4. Elbaba had a chance to pull within 3-4 but she netted a drop shot on the deciding point to go down 2-5 (and smacked the ball into the wall in anger)

As Altick was serving for the match at No. 2, Virginia freshman Meghan Kelley would close out Courtney Colton 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4 to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Altick wouldn’t waste anytime closing Elbaba as she went up 30-0 and then served it out from 40-15 to send the Commodores back to the NCAA Semifinals for the second year in a row.

The remaining match at No. 6 was abandoned with Vanderbilt’s Georgina Sellyn leading 7-6, 4-1.

#6 Vanderbilt (23-5) def. #14 Virginia (19-11), 4-2
May 21, 2016 at Tulsa, Oklahoma (Michael D. Case Tennis Center)
Head Coaches: Geoff Macdonald (Vanderbilt) and Mark Guilbeau (Virginia)
Doubles
1. #14 Sydney Campbell/Courtney Colton (Vanderbilt) vs. #18 Danielle Collins/Meghan Kelley (Virginia), 3-2 DNF
2. Frances Altick/Astra Sharma (Vanderbilt) def. Cassie Mercer/Stephanie Nauta (Virginia), 6-0
3. Fernanda Contreras/Georgina Sellyn (Vanderbilt) def. Julia Elbaba/Erica Susi (Virginia), 6-0
Order of Finish: 2, 3
Singles
1. #2 Danielle Collins (Virginia) def. #18 Sydney Campbell (Vanderbilt), 6-0, 6-0
2. #14 Frances Altick (Vanderbilt) vs. #12 Julia Elbaba (Virginia), 6-4, 6-2
3. #32 Astra Sharma (Vanderbilt) vs. #97 Stephanie Nauta (Virginia), 6-2, 6-3
4. Meghan Kelley (Virginia) def. Courtney Colton (Vanderbilt), 6-4, 6-3
5. Fernanda Contreras (Vanderbilt) def. Erica Susi (Virginia), 6-1, 6-0
6. Georgina Sellyn (Vanderbilt) vs. Cassie Mercer (Virginia), 7-6 (4), 4-1 DNF
Order of Finish: 1, 5, 3, 4, 2
Vanderbilt Head Coach Geoff Macdonald
On about preparing the team to face this Virginia team after playing them in February…
“Well, this is an experienced group and almost all the match ups were different and we know that February was a long, long time ago. This is the quarter finals of the NCAA and it wasn’t too hard to motivate them to get ready.
On if it helps to be defending national champions…
“Certainly, we have been here and we have played these matches. We don’t really use the word defending, that is in the past. We are really thinking about trying to go after this one and not defend anything.
On how important it was to get the doubles points…
“It was huge and I give this team a lot of credit. We have lost some doubles points and they kept working on it and it really showed up today with pretty flawless doubles at 2 and 3.
Frances Altick, Vanderbilt (2 singles)
On her match…
“I just tried to really keep it point by point and really believe in myself. I just tried to hang with her every point. We had a couple deuce points that I lost. And I just tried to stay with it and I had my team and everyone cheering me on so it wasn’t too hard.
On taking her experience from last year into where the team is now in the semifinals…
“I think it helps that we aren’t just happy to be here. Obviously, we are really excited to be here, but we know that we can do more just because of last year. And I’m just excited to keep going.
Virginia Head Coach Mark Guilbeau
Comments on the match…

“Again, same as Thursday, so proud of all those kids. First, congratulate Vanderbilt. Incredible fight, you can see the experience they’ve had and we’re gaining that experience. So, so proud of our girls. I could sit here and talk to you for hours. But, really what we’ve done this year is shown the power of 7. Ultimately, we’re seven young ladies out there that overcame everything. It’s so powerful, the synergy, what they’re able to carry with them after this some of them in tennis, some of them its outside of tennis, some of them it’s in relationships. They can be so fulfilled and so confident about how if you do the right things, the right way for they right people and when you’re consistent in that, the power of it is just amazing.
I think we’ve grown so much beyond just the tennis. The reality is, just only one team is going to come out of here with four (points) at the end and I just told our girls we came out of here with seven. It’s the most powerful seven I’ve ever seen. I’m so happy and proud of them. You always want to play another match, but we’ll be doing that soon.
____________________________________________________________
The other early quarterfinal matchup was between Pac-12 Champion Stanford and Big Ten runner-up Michigan.

Michigan’s Kate Fahey and Alex Najarian earned a 6-2 win at No. 2 but Stanford was in good shape on the other two courts. Stanford’s Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle led 5-2 at No. 1 and Krista Hardebeck and Caroline Lampl were serving up 4-3 at No. 3.

Michigan’s Kara Hall and Ronit Yurovsky would break for 4-4 at No. 3 but Stanford would break back on the deciding point to go up 5-4. Krista Hardebeck would serve it out on the deciding point to give Stanford the 6-4 win.

Meanwhile back at No. 1 things were starting to fall apart for Davidson and Doyle. Doyle served for the match up 5-2 but she’d get broke on the deciding point to make it 5-3 (note the ball toss issues)

Michigan’s Mira Ruder-Hook would get a quick hold for 4-5 but Davidson would go up 5-4, 40-30 with two match points in front of her. Unbelievably she would double fault both match points away to donate the break to Michigan and even it at 5-5. Michigan’s Brienne Minor would hold on the deciding point for 6-5 when Ruder-Hook put a volley down at Davidson’s feet.

Stanford’s Caroline Doyle was serving to stay in the match but she would double fault four times in a row and Michigan had the doubles point with a 7-5 win. Below is a video clip of Davidson’s two double faults at 5-4 as well as Doyle last two to lose the point.

Stanford shook off the loss of the point by taking five opening sets in singles and Melissa Lord would quickly tie the match at 1-1 with a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 6.

Michigan would go back in front after Ronit Yurovsky defeated Carol Zhao 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1


but moments later Stanford’s Krista Hardebeck would tie the match at 2-2 with a over Alex Najarian at No. 4. Hardebeck led 6-0, 4-2 but Najarian broke, held, and broke again to go up 5-4. Najarian had a set point on the deciding point but she pushed a forehand long to get broke. Hardebeck would then hold for 6-5 and break Najarian on the deciding point to win it 6-0, 7-5. Here is a look at the clincher from two angles.

Stanford’s Caroline Lampl would put the Cardinal ahead 3-2 after she pulled away from Mira Ruder-Hook at No. 5. Lampl won the first set 6-4 but Ruder-Hook took the second 6-4. Lampl jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third and served it out to win it 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Michigan’s Brienne Minor would tie the match at 3-3 with a come from behind 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Taylor Davidson at No. 2.

The match would all come down to a third set at No. 3 singles between Stanford junior Caroline Doyle and Michigan freshman Kate Fahey. Doyle jumped out to a double break 3-0 lead in the third set but Fahey would reel off four straight to go up 4-3. Each would hold two more times so Doyle was now serving at 5-6 and after going up 40-15 she found herself facing a match point at 40-all. Fahey pulled a forehand wide early in the point and the match would go to a tiebreak.

Doyle raced out to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreak but she dropped both points on serve to make it 5-2 (double fault & forehand error). Doyle netted a backhand to make it 5-3 but then Fahey went long on a forehand to make it 6-3. Doyle double faulted to make it 6-4 but then she won it on the next point when Fahey netted a forehand and that was it.

#15 Stanford (18-5) def. #10 Michigan (23-7), 4-3
May 21, 2016 at Tulsa, Oklahoma (Michael D. Case Tennis Center)
Head Coaches: Ronni Bernstein (Michigan) and Lele Forood (Stanford)
Doubles
1. #11 Brienne Minor/Mira Ruder-Hook (Michigan) def. #5 Taylor Davidson/Caroline Doyle (Stanford), 7-5
2. Kate Fahey/Alex Najarian (Michigan) def. #31 Melissa Lord/Carol Zhao (Stanford), 6-2
3. Krista Hardebeck/Caroline Lampl (Stanford) def. Kara Hall/Ronit Yurovsky (Michigan), 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. #15 Ronit Yurovsky (Michigan) def. #25 Carol Zhao (Stanford), 6-4, 6-2
2. #19 Brienne Minor (Michigan) def. #46 Taylor Davidson (Stanford), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. #67 Caroline Doyle (Stanford) def. #68 Kate Fahey (Michigan), 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4)
4. #100 Krista Hardebeck (Stanford) def. Alex Najarian (Michigan), 6-0, 7-5
5. Caroline Lampl (Stanford) def. Mira Ruder-Hook (Michigan), 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
6. Melissa Lord (Stanford) def. Teona Velehorschi (Michigan), 6-1, 6-0

Order of Finish: 6, 1, 4, 5, 2, 3

Stanford Head Coach Lele Forood
On what she told her team after the doubles point…
“To forget about it as fast as possible. We’ve played from 0-1 an awful lot this season so we know it doesn’t mean that much for us to go out and have to win a bunch of singles matches so we just had to put it behind us.
On singles matches played…
“We’ve got some better players. The other day, I sat in here with Taylor Davidson, a junior, and today with Caroline Doyle, another junior. They’ve been in big matches, they’ve played a lot of great tennis down the stretch and they pretty much know how to get it done when it really counts. It was just a tremendous effort today by a lot of our team. And of course Caroline was the last one on the court so it always comes down to they have to get it done for us since we sat at 3-all. She did a tremendous job of having a nice lead in the third and the other girl came back and then keeping her composure from 4-5 to get back to the lead and into the tiebreaker. She took a great lead in the breaker, which obviously took a little bit of the pres- sure off.
On coming into the tournament as the 15th seed, does that take the pressure off?
“No, because I don’t think we look at ourselves as a 15th seed, so I don’t think that’s what it is. We know who we are, we’ve had actually quite a good season and it’s nice to be in the final four.
Caroline Doyle, Stanford (#3 singles)
Talk about that last set…
“I got off to a quick start. She stepped up her game, which led me to become too defensive and I got down 4-5. I was just really trying to get the point started with the first serve and really working the points by trying to get back that set.
On the strong start in the tiebreaker…
“I got off to a pretty good start. I knew I had to play aggressive and really go for my shots. When you start off strong it really gives you a little cushion, but you still have to win that last point.
What is it like when you know it was coming down to your match…
“It’s definitely not something that you experience every match. I just really focused on my core, not looking up or to the side too much. It was great having my teammates out there and hearing them cheer. I was just trying to stay very focused and think about the next point.
Is it harder to stay when you have that advantage…
“Not really, just trying to fight for every point and not think about the score. It is a bit relaxing having that cushion, but I still had to fight for every point.
Michigan Head Coach Ronni Bernstein
Opening statement…
“It was an incredible match. I am really proud of my team and how they fought to try and get back into that match, losing five first sets and then (Caroline) Doyle was just tough there at the end and we came up a point short. I am really proud of our team and our year we had, we’ve come and made it to the elite eight and having a chance to go to the final four was exciting but it just slipped away at the end.
On their experience at the national championship…

“It has been great. I think that the people that have been running it have done a great job. Unfortunately, the weather hasn’t cooperated the first two days, but today was beautiful. It has been great and the facility is awesome. We had a good tournament and we definitely enjoyed our stay.

4 Comments

  1. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:25 pm

    You must be on the NCAA selection committee, which seeded Stanford 15th even though they were the Pac-12 champs and only team to beat #1 & #2 teams. In fact, the last 14 times Stanford had a higher seed at NCAAs, they won 12 times. Would love to know how your team compares!

  2. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:25 pm

    V for Vendetta with all of the Vs

  3. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:25 pm

    I love the 6 double faults in a row, crazy how low the level is

  4. 181
    181 on Thu March 19, 2020 at 6:25 pm

    I'm tired of Stanford wasting talent