March 12, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt senior Taka Bertrand has been named Southeastern Conference women’s tennis Player of the Week, announced on Wednesday by the league office in Birmingham, Ala. The honor marks the third time in her career that Bertrand has received the weekly award.
Bertrand had a perfect 3-0 record in singles last week. In Vanderbilt’s win over defending national champion and No. 2 Georgia Tech, Bertrand started the Commodore comeback, defeating No. 33 Kirsten Flower in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, to give the `Dores their first point of the match.
The senior also picked up a pair of singles victories in conference matches last weekend. Playing at the No. 3 singles position for the first time, Bertrand defeated Anouk Tigu of Arkansas 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 and LSU’s Nicole Kantor 6-0, 6-0. With the victories, Bertrand improved her dual match record to 10-2 and 3-1 in SEC matches.
Bertrand now has a career singles record of 112-33. She is just three wins shy of becoming the all-time leader in singles wins in a career in Vanderbilt history.
The Great Falls, Va., native also had a successful week at doubles, partnering up with freshman Keilly Ulery to go 2-1. The pair clinched the doubles point for the Commodores against LSU with an 8-6 victory over Staten Spencer and Kantor.
Bertrand becomes the second Commodore player to earn player of the week honors from the conference this season. Junior Courtney Ulery also received the same award earlier in the spring.