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Women’s Tennis Downs No. 20 Michigan 1/22/2005
Women’s Tennis Downs No. 20 Michigan The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team flexed its muscle of Saturday afternoon, taking five of seven matches from the Wolverines in Ann Arbor. The No. 20 doubles pairing of Taka Bertrand and Amanda Fish gave the Commodores their first win of the doubles draw, dismantling Michigan’s Leanne Rutherford and Debra Streifler, 8-4. The combination of Bertrand and Fish remains undefeated in the 2005 campaign. Michigan would lay claim to the second win of the draw, defeating the Vanderbilt freshman tandem of Amanda Taylor and Caroline Ferrell by a tight, 8-6 tally at the No. 2 position. The all-important doubles point would come down to the No 1. position, which featured two teams in the top 40 nationally. The grudge match pitted the No. 35 tandem of Audra Falk and Annie Menees against the 15th ranked Wolverines in Michelle DaCosta and Kara Delicata. The Commodore seniors of Falk and Menees battled their way to the doubles point triumph, taking the match 9-8 (7-1) in the tiebreak. “I really wasn’t that nervous in the tiebreak,” said Falk. “I was confident that we could pull it out in the end.” In the singles draw, the Vanderbilt freshman Amanda Taylor would continue her hot streak, giving the Commodores a 2-0 lead, rolling over Nina Yaftali 6-2, 6-2. In the No. 1 singles match, the Commodores 38th ranked player in Falk took on the Wolverines No. 44 in DaCosta. Falk would overpower DaCosta in the first frame, 6-2. The second set would not prove as easy. The Commodore senior would have to fight her way from behind, eventually prevailing 6-4 to give the Commodores the point. Freshmen Ferrell would soon follow Falk to the winner’s column, taking her third collegiate singles match in as many tries, 7-5, 6-4. Ferrell’s “W” would clinch the match for the Dores, improving their record to 3-0. Commodore super-sophomore Amanda Fish took down her first ranked player of the 2005 season in her victory over the Wolverines No. 95 Elizabeth Exon. She would take the match in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. The Wolverines would garner wins at both the third and fourth positions, with Kara Delicata defeating Vanderbilt freshman Taka Bertrand in a squeaker 7-6, 7-5 and Leanne Rutherford besting Commodore senior Annie Menees in a third set tiebreak 11-9. “Michigan is very solid,” said Vanderbilt Head Coach Geoff Macdonald. “We played a great doubles point. Annie and Audra did a fantastic job. I was impressed with how composed we were in an intense environment. The team showed a lot of resiliency and competitiveness today.” The Dores take their undefeated season to South Bend and No. 21 Notre Dame tomorrow. The clash with the Irish is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. |
