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3/26/2006 WAUKEGAN, IL—Vanderbilt finished in fourth place at the Brunswick Fountain Square Zone Sunday, upsetting Farleigh Dickinson in the first contest of the day but losing a close match with New Jersey City. The last loss ousted Vanderbilt from the double-elimination event but Coach John Williamson said there was much more good that emerged from this tournament. “Getting to Houston and the NCAA Championship in April has been one of our primary goals,” Williamson says, “and this tournament was ideal for our team right now. First off, we think we have proven to the committee that selects the NCAA field of eight that we belong. We finished ahead of Farleigh Dickinson here and Farleigh is considered a lock, for instance. “We have spent our entire season competing in the top tournaments against the best teams in the NCAA — 40% of that time without the services of Mandy Keily,” Williamson continues. “We think that when the committee looks at the quality of our competition and particularly our success since January 1 we should be one of those eight teams in Houston.” Williamson also noted that the Brunswick tournament has a similar format to the NCAA Championship and was proud of his team’s performance. “It was our first experience at qualifying for a seed and then getting into Baker Games with a double-elimination system,” Williamson said. “I thought we competed very well. We came out strong today and beat Farleigh Dickinson three straight Baker Games and had a close match with New Jersey City. The experience we will take from here should really pay off when we see the same format in a few weeks.” The Commodores expect to know Wednesday if they have punched their ticket to Texas as that is the day the committee votes. |
