Jan. 27, 2011
CLEMSON, S.C. – With a win over No. 9 Northwestern under its belt, the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team travels to Clemson, S.C. this weekend to play in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. As the No. 2 seed this weekend, the ‘Dores will play third-seeded Marshall on Saturday morning. Also on Saturday, host Clemson will face Dartmouth, with the championship and consolation matches on Sunday.
The Commodores opened the season with a 4-3 win over Northwestern last week. Vanderbilt picked up the doubles point before splitting the singles matches with the visiting Wildcats. Senior Keilly Ulery clinched the match for the ‘Dores with a 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 win in the No. 6 match. After the win, Vanderbilt jumped up in the latest Campbell’s/ITA College Tennis Rankings to No. 19.
Marshall, which enters the weekend ranked at No. 53, holds a 4-0 record with wins over Morehead State, Eastern Michigan, Minnesota and Kentucky. In the latest singles rankings, Michaela Kissell stands at No. 27, while the duo of Kissell and Dominica Zaprazna are ranked as the No. 63 doubles pair.
Clemson holds a 5-0 record and a No. 10 ranking from the ITA. Three of Clemson’s wins come over South Carolina opponents (USC Upstate, Charleston Southern and Winthrop). Two Tigers entered the season in the top 50 of singles players – Josipa Bek is ranked No. 12 while Keri Wong stands at No. 48. Bek and Wong are the second-ranked doubles pair in the nation.
Like Vanderbilt, Dartmouth has played just one match this season, a 5-2 victory over Temple. The Big Green stand at No. 61 in the latest ITA team ranking, while Molly Scott is ranked as the 94th singles player.
The team winner of each of the 15 ITA Kick-Off Weekend sites will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, Fe. 18-21 at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.