Oct. 22, 2016
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – On Saturday the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team continued dominant play in ITA Ohio Valley Regionals. Hosted by Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro, four singles players and two doubles teams will continue their tournament journeys on Sunday.
The Commodores began the day with superb doubles play, as two of the regional’s four semifinalists compete for Vanderbilt. VU’s Sydney Campbell / Christina Rosca and Astra Sharma / Emma Kurtz picked up 8-5 victories over squads from Tennessee and Indiana.
First serve of Sunday’s semifinals is set for 3 p.m. Second-seeded Sharma/Kurtz are set to face Indiana’s Appel/Schmidir, a team which scratched its way into the semis with an 8-7(5) win.
Fifth-seed Campbell/Rosca will compete against Kentucky’s Milkulskyte/Jacobs, two student-athletes the pair saw recently in the Commodore’s June Stewart Invitational.
In singles play, Vanderbilt continued to overpower its opponents. Four Commodores continue competition on Sunday, making up half of the regional quarterfinal field.
Top-seeded Campbell, Kurtz, Rosca and Fernanda Contreras remain undefeated, with six of the team’s nine matches finishing in straight sets.
Facing two tough three set battles, Kurtz also remained undefeated. After dropping the first set 2-6 to Austin Peay’s Garcia, the Atlanta native pulled off the victory 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. The freshman showed determination again in the round of 16, defeating Tennessee’s Repic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Emily Smith suffered Vandy’s lone singles loss of the day, as Miami’s fifth-seeded Ponomareva defeated the Commodore 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Looking ahead, No. 12 Campbell squares off against Xavier’s Sydney Liggins Sunday morning at 9:30. Kurtz faces Miami’s unseeded Shapavalov while Contreras looks to battle Kentucky’s 5th-seeded Parazinskaite. Rosca will challenge UK’s second-seeded Sutjaidi.
Singles and doubles regional champions advance to the third ITA national championship of the season, the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
