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Commodores Sweep Spartans In Season Opener 1/17/2004 The 12th-ranked Vanderbilt women’s tennis team opened their 2004 spring schedule with a 7-0 victory over Michigan State on Friday, Jan. 16, at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center. Junior Audra Falk, ranked No. 39 in the ITA’s January poll, clinched the deciding point of the match at the No. 1 position with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Spartan Keri Thompson. Vanderbilt won all three doubles matches to take the first point of the match. At No. 3, the team of sophomore Ashley Schellhas and freshman Amanda Fish delivered the Dores’ first victory, defeating Jessica Baron and Pascale Schnitzer, 8-2. Falk and classmate Annie Menees, ranked No. 29, sealed the doubles point moments later with an 8-2 win over Shelley Brady and Sarah Andrews at No. 2. The Commodores second-ranked duo — seniors Kelly Schmandt and Aleke Tsoubanos — finished off the sweep with an 8-2 victory over Thompson and Caroline Lay. The Commodores carried their momentum into singles play. Menees gave Vanderbilt a 2-0 lead with a quick 6-0, 6-1 victory at the No. 4 position. Tsoubanos followed closely behind, with a 6-2, 6-0 win of her own at No. 3. After Falk’s decisive fourth team point, No. 95 Schmandt put the finishing touches on the only three-set match of the day. At the No. 2 position, she fought back from losing the first set, 4-6, to take the next two sets at love. Schellhas and Fish began their singles matches late, but were in a hurry to finish. No. 77 Schellhas did not drop a game in her straight-sets victory, while Fish, the 66th-ranked player in the nation, won her match 6-0, 6-2. Vanderbilt (1-0) will continue its season-opening homestand on Sunday, Jan. 18, against is the University of Virginia. That match is scheduled to begin at Noon at the Currey Tennis Center. AGATE: No. 12 Vanderbilt 7, Michigan State 0 Doubles No. 2 Schmandt/Tsoubanos (VU) def. Thompson/Lay (MSU), 8-2 No. 29 Falk/Menees (VU) def. Brady/Andrews (MSU), 8-2* Schellhas/Fish (VU) def. Baron/Schnitzer (MSU), 8-2 Singles No. 39 Audra Falk (VU) def. Keri Thompson (MSU), 6-4, 6-3* No. 95 Kelly Schmandt (VU) def. Shelley Brady (MSU), 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 Aleke Tsoubanos (VU) def. Caroline Lay (MSU), 6-2, 6-0 Annie Menees (VU) def. Sarah Andrews (MSU), 6-0, 6-1 No. 77 Ashley Schellhas (VU) def. Karen Gustafson (MSU), 6-0, 6-0 No. 66 Amanda Fish (VU) def. Pascale Schnitzer (MSU), 6-0, 6-2 * clinching point — VU — |
