Aug. 16, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Head coach Geoff Macdonald and the members Vanderbilt women’s tennis team are excited to announce that Emily Smith will be joining the Commodores this spring after a fantastic year at Rice University.
“Emily was a top-100 in the world junior, who went to Rice and had a very good first year,” said Macdonald. “Ironically, she played against us in our NCAA round of 32 match against Rice and played a very good match against Astra Sharma. After the NCAA tournament we found out that she was looking to transfer. Emily came out on a visit, and we liked her very much. She’s a superb student and a player with tremendous upside.”
During her freshman campaign, Smith clinched Rice’s fourth-consecutive Conference USA championship. Playing primarily at No. 3 in her debut season, the Birmingham, England native capped her time with the Owls amassing an 11-7 record in dual action (10-7 on court three).
Ranked 48th in doubles with Katherine Ip, the pair earned two top-15 wins, defeating the Commodores’ own then-No. 14 Colton/Campbell and Baylor’s then 10th-ranked Shankle/Generette. The duo closed out the season with an 18-6 (14-5) overall record.
Smith qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championship along with Ip and dropped a tough three-set match to UCLA’s Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips, 5-7, 7-5, 5-10.
Juniors: Attended Highclare School in Birmingham… Finalist in the British U 18 Championships and reached a career-best ITF Junior ranking of 98… Named the Worcestershire County Player of the Year in 2013.
Personal: Full Name: Emily Paige Smith… Born: August 21, 1997 in Birmingham, England…Parents: James and Tracy Smith, Birmingham…One sister… Father played college basketball at College of New Jersey as well as professionally the BBL in England from 1982-1999.
