Oct. 21, 2016
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team began competition in the ITA’s annual Ohio Valley Regional Friday morning. Playing one singles match, followed by two rounds of doubles the Commodores walked away with 11 victories on opening day.
Beginning the cool fall day with singles action, VU went 5-1 against regional foes. The Commodores lone loss of the day came from Payton Robinette, who fell to Indiana’s Appel 6-2, 6-0.
Four of the five Commodore victories came in straight sets, with freshman Christina Rosca powering back into the match for a three-set win. The Princeton, N.J. native downed Andreea Badileanu of Miami, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Other round of 64 victories included top-seeded Sydney Campbell’s 6-1, 7-6(2) win over Cincinnati’s Lauren Bellinger and Emma Kurtz’s 6-4, 6-4 defeat over Miami’s Hannah Shteyn. Sophomore Fernanda Contreras downed Louisville’s Mariana Humberg 6-2, 6-2, while Emily Smith rounded out singles play only giving up two games in her 6-2, 6-0 victory against Lipscomb’s Thabile Tshatedi.
In doubles play, three of the eight advancing tandems represent Vanderbilt. The Commodores are the only squad with multiple teams still vying for the regional championship.
Owning the No. 2 seed in the draw, Astra Sharma and Kurtz defeated Ball State’s Blanco/Ormond 8-1 to begin the round of 32. The tandem continued dominant play one round later, taking down Western Kentucky’s Oest/DeUgarte 8-2.
The pairing of Contreras and Smith only allowed two games in doubles action, downing Lipscomb’s Tshatedi/Buberl and Wright State’s Verstrepen/Morgan in a pair of 8-1 victories.
Fifth-seeded Campbell/Rosca came out victorious over NKU’s Skopac/Donahue, 8-4, and Murray State’s Chang/Schibol 8-3. Summer Dvorak and Georgina Sellyn fell 8-0 in their round of 32 match to Kentucky’s Mikulskyte/Jacobs. The doubles match was Sellyn’s first competition of the fall season.
Both Sharma/Kurtz and Campbell/Rosca face SEC foes in Tennessee and Kentucky in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Sharma and Kurtz will face Garcia/Garcia from Austin Peay.
The regional singles and doubles champions will join VU’s Sharma in New York in the ITA’s third national championship of the season, the National Indoor Intercollegaite Championships.
