Anchor Drop, April 23, 2018: Another SEC Title

Good morning.

The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team met second-seeded Florida in the finals of the SEC Tournament on Sunday, and unlike the regular-season clincher last Saturday, this one wasn’t close and didn’t require any heroics. The Commodores won 4-0, taking the SEC tournament title for the second year in a row. That gives Vanderbilt an automatic bid to next month’s NCAA Tournament; the selection show will air on May 1 at 5:00 PM CT.

In even better news, top-ranked North Carolina lost to Duke on Friday, meaning that Vanderbilt may well be #1 in the country when the new poll is released on Tuesday.

Women’s lacrosse was eliminated from contention for the Big East tournament on Sunday with a 20-19 overtime loss to UConn, dropping their record to 8-8 overall and 3-5 in conference play. However, senior Kayla Peterson did set the new school record for most goals in a season with 56. The Commodores will close out the season next Saturday against Denver.

Off the West End

Former Vanderbilt guard Payton Willis has a new home. Willis will transfer to Minnesota, where he’ll sit out 2018-19 and then have two years of eligibility left.

The Predators are on to the conference semifinals.

The Giants’ Brandon Belt had a 21-pitch at bat, which is an MLB record.

Winners in the NBA Playoffs yesterday: the Bucks tied their series with the Celtics on a last-second shot; the Spurs beat the Warriors to stave off elimination; the Wizards knotted their series with the Raptors; and the Cavaliers got home-court advantage back by beating the Pacers.

When Tennessee is talking shit about Vanderbilt’s attendance, you know things aren’t going well for them:

Attendance numbers are basically all they have at this point.

Never change, Philadelphia.