Sept. 29, 2014
After a successful opening tournament at Furman, four members of the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team begin competition tomorrow at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
“I thought last week at Furman was a great start for the team”, said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “The four players coming out here got some match toughness that should really help them. This is extremely tough; it’s basically the fall version of the NCAA individual tournament. The best players in the country are here so we’ll put in a couple of good hours of practice and get a good night’s sleep. We’re looking for some really good competition. I think the players are very excited and aware of the opportunity, and that’s all you can ask.”
The No. 17 doubles team in the country, Courtney Colton and Sydney Campbell, begin play tomorrow at 9 a.m. as the No. 1 seed in the qualifying round. The duo squares off against Miami’s Stephanie Wagner and Lina Lileikite who defeated the No. 6 ranked doubles team last week at the Miami Fall Invite.
Ranked No. 60 in the country, Frances Altick and Marie Casares begin doubles play Tuesday, facing off against Oklahoma State’s Katarina Adamovic and Vladica Babic.
Singles play beings for the Commodores on Tuesday, with both Colton and Casares taking the court at 11:30. The winner of that round returns to action at 2:45.
Colton, who is currently ranked No. 63, is scheduled to play UCLA’s Catherine Harrison. Harrison is ranked No. 57 in the country and comes off a 28-7 season for the Bruins.
Senior, No. 82 Marie Casares, faces the No. 10 qualifying seed, Saska Gavrilovska. A sophomore for the Texas A&M Aggies, Gavrilovska is currently ranked No. 34 by the ITA and comes off of a 20-8 season.
No. 50 Sydney Campbell is the last Commodore to take the court, beginning tournament play at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. Campbell, a sophomore from Franklin, Tenn., has Southern California’s Giuliana Olmos as her opening opponent. Olmos is the No. 13 seed in the qualifying round and currently ranked No. 38 by the ITA.
“There’s no easy match out here, but we’ve got four warriors in the draw. It’s an honor to make it here so I’m thrilled for them to get this chance and I know they’re going to do the most to make the best of it.”