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Commodores Down Wolverines 6-1
1/29/2006 NASHVILLE, Tenn — The No. 8 Commodores defeated No.35 Michigan 6-1 at the Currey Tennis Center Sunday, January 29.
The doubles round saw several line-up changes for both schools. VU’s No. 1 and No. 2 singles players Fish and Bertrand played No. 2 doubles, while No. 3 Taylor and No. 6 Yahner slid into the No. 1 doubles slot. The pair didn’t seem phased by the switch and quickly defeated No.1 Delicata and No. 6 Shafner 8-3.
“Yahner and Taylor have really been excelling in practice,” Vanderbilt Head Coach Geoff Macdonald said. “I wanted to give them the opportunity because of their hard work and improvement.”
Taylor and Bertrand were the first to finish doubles play, holding Michigan’s Streifler and Sugiyama to one game (8-1). The back-to-back No.1 and No. 2 victories sealed the doubles point for the Commodores.
Michigan senior Nina Yaftali played fiercely at the No. 3 doubles slot with partner Lindsey Howard. The Wolverines rallied a 3-0 run to defeat VU’s Caroline Ferrell and Courtney Ulery 8-5 in the proset after the teams were tied at five games each.
In singles play, Amanda Fish breezed through No.1, defeating Michigan’s Kara Delicata 6-1, 6-2. Bertrand was next to finish, defeating Michigan’s Nina Yaftali 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2.
Sophomore Amanda Taylor ended her match with a tie-breaker for the second consecutive singles contest. After two close sets (6-3, 3-6), Taylor overcame Michigan’s Chiasko Sugiyama 6-1.
Freshman Commodore Courtney Ulery defeated formerly ranked Elizabeth Exon 6-2, 6-3 at No 4. On the far left of the court, sophomore Caroline Ferrell and Michigan senior Streifler had two extremely close sets (6-7, 7-5) that ended in a ten point tie-breaker with Streifler beating Ferrell to the mark (1-0 (8)).
“I was really pleased with our efforts. Since we are such a young team, every match is about learning,” Macdonald said.
The next contest for the Commodores will be at the ITA Indoor National Competitions on Wednesday, February 1.
Results
Doubles 1. VU Taylor/Yahner d. UM Delicata/Shafner 8-3 2. VU Fish/Bertrand . UM Streifler/Sugiyama 8-1 3. UM Howard/Yaftali d. VU Ferrell/Ulery 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3 Singles 1. VU Fish d. UM Delicata 6-1, 6-2 2. VU Bertrand d. UM Yaftali 6-2, 6-3 3. VU Taylor d. UM Sugiyama 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 4. VU Ulery d. UM Exon 6-2, 6-3 5. UM Steifler d. VU Ferrell 6-7, 7-5, 0-1 (8) 6. VU Yahner d. UM Shafner 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6 |