Sept. 25, 2016
Final Results 
GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team capped its first tournament of the fall amassing a perfect 3-0 record in Sunday’s championship matches. All three student athletes competing in their flight finals were first year Vanderbilt students.
“It was a really impressive day for the three newcomers,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “They improved over the course of the weekend significantly, and that’s all you can ask for. This tournament was a good start to the fall, and now we know a lot of what we need to do to get better.”
Emma Kurtz, Christina Rosca and Emily Smith put on dominating performances for the Dores, with two of the three matches completed in straight sets.
“Today was the third day, so everyone was just a little tired, but out fitness looked good and I liked the way we played. We went out this morning and played aggressive and smart tennis. Now we’re going to go home, keep conditioning, and look at video from over the weekend. Each player has their own program of things they need to do to get better… but this weekend was a great way to learn and still win.”
Kurtz, a native of Atlanta, powered through her first set against Wake Forest’s Joanna Zalewski, 6-2. The Demon Deacon muscled her way into the competition by taking the second set, 6-3, to spit. Having a perfect record so far in singles play, the Commodore regained composure heading into the final set to take the match, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
A freshman out of Princeton, N.J., Rosca faced her third straight SEC opponent in Mississippi State’s Anastasia Rentoul. The sophomore from Athens, Greece provided great league experience for Rosca, as the ‘Dores came out on top for the trophy, 6-2, 6-3.
Smith earned what could be considered the most dominate win of the tournament, only allowing two games against UNC’s Rachel James Baker. The Tar Heel took her two games in the first set, with Smith walking away from Furman a champion, 6-2, 6-0.
Aussie, Astra Sharma took third place in the flight one bracket by defeating Clemson’s Ayan Broomfield. The sophomore Tiger was unable to win a game over the 19th ranked Commodore in the first set. Sharma closed out the tournament with a 2-1 singles record, defeating Broomfield, 6-0, 6-4. Fernanda Contreras claimed third place in the flight two’s consolation bracket, downing Florida State’s Julia Mikulski, 6-3, 6-4.
Vanderbilt will return to practice this week, as several Dores wait to see if they will be competing in the 2016 Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championship.
