ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Tennis team earned their first win of the season in an impressive 4-1 fashion over No. 21 Vanderbilt at the Varsity Tennis Center for the first day of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. 

THE MATCH
Final: UC Santa Barbara 4, Vanderbilt 1
Records: UC Santa Barbara (1-2), Vanderbilt (1-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos got the ball rolling with a commanding victory in doubles. On court two, Ali Benedetto and Emma Tutoveanu set the Gauchos up for success with a 6-2 win. Both courts one and three were a tougher battle on all sides as Lucy Lu and Lily Pradkin earned the tough 7-5 victory to secure the doubles point with No. 9 Amelia Honer and Marie Weissheim leaving their match unfinished down 6-5. 

With one point under their belt, the Blue and Gold kept the momentum in singles with five of the six courts winning the first set. However, it would be a battle for singles wins as four of those first sets would be only won by two games or go into a tiebreak. Vanderbilt took the first singles point over Ali Benedetto on court three, but Marie Weissheim would regain the lead for the Gauchos with a big win over No. 26 Bridget Stammel in straight sets. No. 16 Amelia Honer fought for a much needed 7-5, 6-4 victory on court one as the Gauchos just looked for one more point to get the team win. 

Courts four through six all approached their conclusion with Tyra Richardson closest to a win in the second set. After starting down 4-0 in the first set, Richardson battled back to force a tiebreak and win the first set 7-6. As the second set sat tied up at 5-5, Richardson fought point for point through the last two games as she won 7-5. Lily Pradkin started down by two games in the third set and came back to tie up the set at 5-5 before the Gauchos clinched the final point and the match was left unfinished. Emma Tutoveanu was also in the middle of a third set battle only down by one game before the Gauchos got their victory. The 4-1 result handed Vanderbilt their first loss of the season and pushed the Gauchos through to the championship match on day two of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

RESULTS
Doubles 
1. #11 Ceila-Belle Mohr/Sophia Webster (VANDY-W) vs. #9 Amelia Honer/Anna Weissheim (UCSB) 6-5, unfinished
2. Ali Benedetto/Emma Tutoveanu (UCSB) def. Valeria Ray/Bridget Stammel (VANDY-W) 6-3
3. Lucy Lu/Lily Pradkin (UCSB) def. Amy Stevens/Trinetra Vijayakumar (VANDY-W) 7-5

Order of finish: 2,3

Singles
1. #16 Amelia Honer (UCSB) def. Ceila-Belle Mohr (VANDY-W) 7-5, 6-4
2. Anna Weissheim (UCSB) def. #26 Bridget Stammel (VANDY-W) 7-6, 6-3
3. #78 Valeria Ray (VANDY-W) def. Ali Benedetto (UCSB) 6-3, 6-4
4. Tyra Richardson (UCSB) def. Trinetra Vijayakumar (VANDY-W) 7-6, 7-5
5. Sophia Webster (VANDY-W) vs. Emma Tutoveanu (UCSB) 3-6, 6-3, 5-4, unfinished
6. Amy Stevens (VANDY-W) vs. Lily Pradkin (UCSB) 5-7, 6-2, 5-5, unfinished

Order of finish: 3,2,1,4

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will face No. 8 Michigan on the second day of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend tomorrow at 11 a.m. PT. The winner will receive an invite to the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Feb. 7. Live stats and streaming will be made available here.