May 6, 2015
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With the first round of NCAA play just around the corner, the fourth seeded Vanderbilt Commodores are gearing up to host Murray State, Ohio State, and Oklahoma this weekend in the team’s 21st consecutive tournament appearance. The `Dores have already created waves in post-season play, defeating Alabama, Florida, and Georgia to claim the SEC tournament title.
Leading up to SECs, head coach Geoff Macdonald said “this is one of those times where winning the conference tournament might be harder than NCAAs, but we’ve got a chance.” The Commodores had a chance all right, one in which the squad capitalized on to wield Vandy its first SEC tournament title in program history.
Now that “The Pyramid” has been secured in the trophy case at the Currey Tennis Center for a little over two weeks, Macdonald’s theory and battled hardened team will begin to be tested once more this Friday as 3:00 pm CT as the `Dores take on back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Champs, the Murray State Racers.
Scouting the Racers:
Murray State makes its fifth appearance in the NCAA tournament this year after a 4-2 victory over EKU to clinch the Ohio Valley tournament. The Racers have faced Vanderbilt in four of their five tournament appearances, with the exception of their 4-0 loss to Tennessee in ’02-’03. In all five NCAA competitions the Racers have been swept. Most recently, the Commodores defeated MSU 4-0 in round one of NCAA play last season.
Coming into the post season Murray State boasts a 17-3 record, and two All-OVC players in Andrea Eskauriatza (first team) and Eleonore Tchakarova (second team). Nancy Karaky earned Murray State’s first OVC Freshman of the Year award since the accolades inception in 2005. Three Racers enter the tournament undefeated in their last 10 matches; Eskauriatza, Erin Patton and Alena Vasileva. The Racers three losses of the year came at the hands of Tennessee, Memphis, and conference opponent Eastern Illinois.
Pre Match Info:
Prior to Friday’s 3:00 pm start time, the second seeded Buckeyes and third seeded Sooners will square off at noon.
Seniors Ashleigh Antal and Marie Casares will also graduate before taking the court on Friday. To the squad’s excitement, both Commodores plan to remain in Nashville post graduation. Antal plans to work on her PhD in Psychology here at Vandy. Casares will graduate with a degree in Civil Engineering and plans to work at LittleJohn, a civil engineering design firm.
Ticket Information:
Tickets will be available for fans the day of the event. Per NCAA, adult tickets are $5, youth and student tickets are $3 with children under two years of age getting in free of charge