March 18, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Senior Amanda Taylor has been named Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week as announced by the league office in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday afternoon. The honor marks the second-consecutive week that a Vanderbilt player has received the award as fellow senior Taka Bertrand was named conference player of the week last week.
Taylor, who is currently ranked 22nd nationally in singles, went 2-0 in singles play last week to improve to 11-3 in dual matches. The Richland, Wash., native defeated two ranked opponents on the week. Against Furman, Taylor defeated No. 93 Laura Gioia in straight sets, winning 6-2, 6-2.
Taylor closed out the week with a comeback win over Florida International’s No. 88 Liset Brito. After dropping the first set 6-4 and being down 5-2 in the second set, Taylor came back to win the second set 7-5 and captured the match by winning a 10-point tiebreaker in the third set 10-2. Taylor now has an overall singles record of 18-7 on the season and a career singles record of 98-27.
Taylor becomes the third Commodore to receive weekly recognition from the league office. Junior Courtney Ulery and Bertrand have also received the award from the league this year.
Vanderbilt returns to action this weekend with a pair of conference matches. The Commodores host No. 39 Auburn on Friday at 2:30 p.m. (CT) and travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face Alabama on Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT). For more information on the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team, log on to vucommodores.com.