The No. 19 Vanderbilt women's tennis team was edged 4-3 by Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday to end its season.
The Commodores (11-9) won the doubles point and got singles wins from junior Catherine Newman and sophomore Keilly Ulery but it wasn't enough. Their streak of 11 consecutive appearances in the Sweet 16 was snapped.
"Illinois played a great match today and we didn't compete well at a couple of spots," said Vanderbilt coach Geoff Macdonald. "This is a very disappointing loss for our team and it's tough to end the season like this."
Ulery won her No. 3 singles match after she and her older sister Courtney, a senior, won their doubles match 9-8 in a tiebreaker, and Newman and freshman Jackie Wu won their doubles match handily to give Vanderbilt an early 1-0 lead.
Newman won her No. 2 singles match in straight sets (6-2, 6-4) to help put Vanderbilt up 3-2, but Wu (0-6, 6-4, 4-6) and Courtney Ulery (4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7)) lost three-set heartbreakers, and freshmen Chelsea Preeg and Heather Steinbauer lost in straight sets at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively.
Although the team's season is over, Wu was selected to play in the NCAA singles championship later in May, with Newman as an alternate. Wu and Steinbauer are alternates for the doubles championship.
Travis Young contributed to this article.
