No. 28 Vanderbilt Commodores
vs.
Ball State Cardinals
Friday, May 7 • 10 a.m. CT
NCAA Tourney Time
- Starting its NCAA Tournament run, No. 28 Vanderbilt will open against Ball State on Friday morning in Columbus, Ohio. First serve against the Cardinals is set for 10 a.m. CT.
- Fans can follow the match via live stream, live scoring or on Twitter by following @VandyWTennis.
NCAA Tournament Fast Facts
- Vanderbilt makes its 26th NCAA Tournament appearance this week.
- The Commodores have reached at least the Sweet 16 in each of the last six tournaments, including the national championship in 2015, a runner-up finish in 2018, the Final Four in 2016 and 2017, the Elite Eight in 2019 and the Sweet 16 in 2014.
- Vandy has 61 NCAA Tournament wins to its name and owns a 61-23 record in the Big Dance.
- This year’s tournament marks the first since the 2019 season. Last year’s NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NCAA Individuals
- Following the NCAA Team Championship, Vanderbilt will send Christina Rosca to compete in the NCAA Singles Tournament at the end of May.
- In addition to Rosca’s selection, Anna Ross and Holly Staff have been selected as an alternate duo for the doubles tournament.
National Rankings
- In the most recent Oracle/ITA national rankings, Vanderbilt checked in at No. 28 in the nation.
- In addition to the team ranking, fifth-year senior Christina Rosca stands at No. 43 in the country in the ITA singles rankings.
- In the ITA doubles poll, Emma Kurtz is ranked with a pair of partners. She and Holly Staff checked in at No. 44 in the nation while she and Marcella Cruz are No. 63 in the country.
- Staff and Anna Ross also jumped into the poll and ranks No. 28 in the nation.
Elite Ranks
- With a three-set victory Jan. 17 against Western Kentucky, Rosca earned her 100th career singles victory.
- In addition to her 100th singles win, she also earned her 200th career win across singles and doubles Feb. 22 against LSU.
- To date throughout her career, she owns an overall 112-53 singles record while going 13-5 thus far this spring season.
- With her 112 singles wins, she ranks fourth in program history for most in a career.
- Combining singles and doubles, Rosca is 211-116 in her career as a Commodore thanks to her 99-63 record in doubles play.
Century Mark
- Kurtz reached 100 career doubles victories by beating Tennessee’s No. 2 duo with Cruz last month.
- The fifth-year senior holds a career mark of 183-130 across 313 career singles and doubles decisions in black and gold.
Looking Astern
- In the SEC Tournament, 10th-seeded Vanderbilt dropped a 4-1 decision to seventh-seeded South Carolina in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the second round.
A New Captain
- Last summer, Aleke Tsoubanos took over as the program’s head coach after 13 seasons on staff as an assistant coach.
- With Tsoubanos taking over, Geoff Macdonald remains on staff as the program’s assistant coach.
- One of the most-respected college coaching duos in the country, Tsoubanos and Macdonald led the Commodores to the program’s first national championship in 2015. The pair has also ushered the Dores to 249 wins, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back SEC Tournament and regular-season titles in 2017-18.
- Tsoubanos’s first dual-match victory came Jan. 17 in a 7-0 sweep of Western Kentucky and her first win over a ranked opponent came when the Dores beat N0. 9 Georgia Tech on the road Feb. 12.
Badges of Honor
- Staff earned the first SEC Freshman of the Week honor on Jan. 28.
- Cruz then went on to earn SEC Newcomer of the Week on March 17 after starting Vanderbilt’s comeback to beat No. 31 Kentucky 4-3.
A Look Back at 2019-20
- Last season, Vanderbilt went 7-3 across 10 matches with a 3-1 mark in conference play before the remainder of the year was canceled due to COVID-19. Two of those losses were by 4-3 scorelines against Arizona State and No. 36 LSU.
- Rosca won each of her last five matches of the season, finishing the spring campaign with an 8-2 record and a 6-1 mark at No. 1 singles.
- Cruz also had a strong debut season, going 5-1 on the year – all at No. 5 singles – before the shutdown.
On The Radar
- With a win, Vanderbilt would move on to face No. 15 seed Ohio State on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. From there, the winner of the Columbus Regional would advance to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, for the remainder of the tournament.
