There is a gap in existing knowledge of stress-triggered neurochemical and behavioral adaptations in females. This study was designed to explore short-term consequences of a single social defeat (SD) on accumbal dopamine (DA) dynamics and related behaviors in female Wistar rats. During the SD procedure, rats demonstrated different stress-handling strategies, which were defined as active and passive coping. The “active” subjects expressed a significantly higher level of activity directed toward handling stress experience, while the “passive” ones showed an escalated freezing pattern. Remarkably, these opposite behavioral manifestations were negatively correlated. 24 hours following the SD exposure, decreased immobility latency in the Porsolt test and cognitive augmentation in the new object recognition evaluation were evident along with an increase in electrically-evoked mesolimbic DA release in passive coping rats. Rats with active strategy showed insignificant changes in the immobility and cognitive performance as well as in evoked mesolimbic DA response. Furthermore, the dynamics of the decline and recovery of DA efflux under the depletion protocol were significantly altered in the passive but not active female rats. Taken together, these data suggest that female rats with a passive coping strategy are more susceptible to develop behavioral and neurochemical alterations within 24 hours after stress exposure. This observation may represent both maladaptive and protective responses of an organism on a short timescale.