CARY, N.C. — Junior Valeria Ray and senior Bridget Stammel used a comeback effort to grab a three-set win in the final round of doubles qualifying on Tuesday at the ITA All-American Championships from Cary Tennis Park in Cary, North Carolina.

No. 37 Ray and Stammel took the court in their first ranked matchup of the season against No. 39 Maria Sholokhova and Lucie Urbanova of Wisconsin. The first set was all Badgers, who took the opener 6-3. Wisconsin looked to be on the brink of a match win after going up 3-1 to start the second set and breaking the Vanderbilt serve. The Dores proceeded to rattle off three straight games and take their first set lead of the contest at 4-3. Both teams continued to match each other game-by-game, ultimately forcing a tiebreak at 6-6. Ray and Stammel went ahead 3-2 to start the tiebreaker and never looked back, winning 7-4 to serve up a winner-take-all super set.

Wisconsin took a 4-2 lead behind its serve to begin the final frame. After Vanderbilt closed the deficit to 4-3, Ray sent a backhand shot slicing directly between both Badgers to even the set at 4-4. With the momentum beginning to shift, both Dores continued to hit clutch shots. Stammel delivered a forehand strike down the sideline to give Vandy a 6-5 advantage and Ray pushed the score to 7-5 after placing a forehand blast of her own in the baseline corner. The pair held their Badger counterparts scoreless for the remainder of the set, eventually finishing 10-5 to seal the match victory.

Court 15 saw Vanderbilt’s No. 43 freshman duo of Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita in their first career ranked contest, facing the No. 33 pairing of Tatum Evans and Theadora Rabman from North Carolina. The Dores were dominant throughout the opening set, quickly taking the first 6-2. In the second set, both teams battled back and forth ahead to a 4-4 tie. The Tar Heels locked down the final two games to take the second set 6-4, forcing Vanderbilt into another super set on the day. North Carolina held all the momentum throughout the final frame, jumping out to a 7-2 lead before Vandy could string consecutive points together. Despite a last-ditch effort from Pearce and Yamakita, the Tar Heels hung on 10-7 to claim the match.

Ray and Stammel advance into the doubles main draw and are set to face No. 19 ranked Arina Gamretkaia and Ozlem Uslu of Virginia Tech tomorrow at 3 p.m. They join the No. 12 ranked duo of graduate Célia-Belle Mohr and freshman Sophia Webster in the main draw, who matchup against Pepperdine’s No. 21 pairing of Anastasiia Grechkina and Alexia Harmon at 1:30 p.m. In singles, Ray, ranked No. 45, and Stammel, ranked No. 27, begin their main draw run on Wednesday as well. Ray takes on No. 10 Piper Charney from Michigan while Stammel opens against South Carolina’s No. 24 Kaitlyn Carnicella; both matches begin at 11 a.m. The women’s All-American tournament page is available online.

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Qualifying (Day 2) Results:
DOUBLES
No. 37 Ray/Stammel (Vanderbilt) def. No. 39 Sholokhova/Urbanova (Wisconsin) 3-6, 7-6, 10-5
No. 33 Evans/Rabman (North Carolina) def. No. 43 Pearce/Yamakita (Vanderbilt) 2-6, 6-4, 10-7