Commodores wrap up first day of Miami Invitational

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team opened play Friday at the Miami Invitational hosted by the University of Miami. The Commodores closed the first day of action going 4-4 in singles play against No. 8 Miami and 1-2 in doubles against No. 31 Memphis.

Freshman Astra Sharma made her collegiate debut winning in straight sets over Victoria Zukowski of Miami, 7-6, 6-2.

The bottom of the ‘Dores lineup played well. Frances Altick, Marie Casares and No. 48 Georgina Sellyn all picked up wins, joining Sharma.

Altick and Sellyn both won in straight sets, while Casares had to work a bit harder. The junior won the first set 7-5 before dropping the second set 6-1. It was in the third set Casares pulled it out, winning 11-9 in the breaker.

No. 78 Sydney Campbell, No. 61 Lauren Mira, No. 102 Ashleigh Antal and Courtney Colton each dropped their first match of the spring.

In doubles play, the Commodores took on the 31st-ranked Memphis Tigers, finishing the day with a record of 1-2.

The lone doubles win came from Colton and Casares who won 6-4 over Memphis’ Keykendall and Tymchenko.

No. 28 Campbell and Antal dropped their match 6-3 to Hibberd and Wegner.

Saturday’s action will begin at 9:00 a.m., eastern time, with doubles against Texas. Singles play against Memphis will begin after the conclusion of doubles.