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Commodore Women Open Fall Tennis Season at Furman 9/25/2003 Greenville, S.C. — The Vanderbilt women’s tennis will open their 2003 fall schedule this weekend in Greenville, S.C., with the Furman Fall Invitational, to be played at the Mickel Tennis Center, Sept. 26-28. The Commodores ended the 2003 spring season ranked No. 13 by the ITA and enter the fall slate with four indivuals in the nation’s top 100. Coach Geoff Macdonald will take all seven members of his 2003 team to the tournament, including seniors Aleke Tsoubanos and Kelly Schmandt, who are ranked 50th and 58th, respectively, in the pre-season poll released by the ITA. Sophomore Ashley Schellhas (No. 85) and junior Audra Falk (No. 91) round out the ranked Commodores. Six other top-100’s will be competing this weekend at Furman. “I am excited to finally see these ladies compete after a few really good weeks of practice,” Macdonald said. “They have been working very hard to prepare for the season. We have a great group of young players, and this will be good experience for them. We are looking to get a few matches under our belts, and I think that will make all our practice seem more relevant.” Commodore freshmen Amanda Fish and Helene Stephens will both be making their first appearance in the Black & Gold. This summer, Fish earned Player of the Year honors in the ITA Summer Circuit. The tournament field consists of players from Furman, Clemson, Iowa, Middle Tennessee State, North Carolina, Penn State, South Carolina and Wisconsin competing in seven singles flights and three doubles flights. Action will begin at 9 a.m. ET on all three days, with the doubles championship taking place on Saturday and the singles championship occuring on Sunday. The Furman Invitational is the first of four fall tournaments that the Commodores will take part in. They will compete in early October’s ITA All-American before playing host to the June Stewart Fall Invitiational, Oct. 24-26 at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center. Vanderbilt’s fall season culminates at the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Atlanta in early November. |
