BATON ROUGE, La. - No. 12 Vanderbilt swept the No. 63 LSU Tigers, 7-0, Friday evening in the SEC opener at W.T. "Dub" Robinson Stadium.
The Commodores (8-4, 1-0) won their conference-opening match for the third-straight year, while the loss dropped LSU to 7-4 overall and 0-1 in SEC play. The sweep is the first complete sweep for Vanderbilt this season. They defeated Belmont, 6-0, on Feb. 22, but did not play doubles.
Vanderbilt seized control of the match early on by winning the doubles point. The Commodores were able to record wins at Nos. 2 and 3 heading into singles. Ashleigh Antal and Marie Casares were able to pull away from Ebie Wilson and Keri Frankenberger, 8-3. The two sophomores are now 15-6 this season as a duo.
Frances Altick and Georgina Sellyn needed little time to dispatch of Kaitlin Burns and Ella Taylor, as the Vandy pair won, 8-3.
In singles play, Vanderbilt used a complete team effort as the Commodores recorded wins at positions 2-6. At the No. 2, Casares defeated Mary Jeremiah, 6-4, 6-1, to run her win streak to five-straight. Antal cruised to a straight sets win in the No. 5 position, 6-1, 6-1.
Courtney Colton eased her way to a 6-2 first set win over Ella Taylor, but Colton found herself trailing 4-1 in the second set. Down 4-1, Colton mounted a comeback to win the set, 6-4.
Sellyn received a tough match from Ariel Morton at the No. 4 spot, but the Glasgow, Scotland, native proved to be too much as she won, 7-5, 6-3.
The two longest matches of the day came at the Nos. 1 and 6 positions. At No. 6, Altick had to regroup after falling in the first set to (Ebie) Wilson, 6-0. The Louisiana native won set two, 6-3 and then won, 2-1 in the third set., as Wilson retired with a foot injury.
To finish the match, Lauren Mira added on the seventh and final point with her three-set win over (Kaitlin) Burns, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Vanderbilt finishes its weekend road trip in Fayetteville, Ark., on Sunday with a match versus Arkansas at 12 p.m. CT.
Singles Results
1. No. 60 Lauren Mira (Vanderbilt) def. Kaitlin Burns (LSU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
2. Marie Casares (Vanderbilt) def. Mary Jeremiah (LSU) 6-4, 6-1
3. Courtney Colton (Vanderbilt) def. Ella Taylor (LSU) 6-2, 6-4
4. No. 64 Georgina Sellyn (Vanderbilt) def. Ariel Morton (LSU) 7-5, 6-3
5. Ashleigh Antal (Vanderbilt) def. Keri Frankenberger (LSU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Frances Altick (Vanderbilt) def. Ebie Wilson (LSU) 0-6, 6-3, 2-1, retired
Doubles Results
1. Jeremiah/Morton (LSU) vs. No. 29 Colton/Mira (Vanderbilt) 5-6, unfinished
2. Antal/Casares (Vanderbilt) def. Wilson/Frankenberger (LSU) 8-3
3. Altick/Sellyn (Vanderbilt) def. Burns/Taylor (LSU) 8-3
Order of Finish
Singles: 5,2,3,4,6,1
Doubles: 3,2
