May 22, 2015
Vanderbilt All-America Selections
WACO, Texas – In their first appearance in any NCAA individual tournament, the senior/freshman duo of Ashleigh Antal and Astra Sharma earned All-American status for the first time in their careers.
With the 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Pepperdine’s No. 23 Matea Cutura and Christine Maddox in the round of 16, the tandem are the first Vandy team to earn All-American honors in eight years. In 2007 Amanda Fish and Amanda Taylor defeated Penn’s Anisimova/Kosminskaya 6-2, 6-1 to earn the title and the chance to compete in the Elite Eight.
“It’s quite the honor to be the first team to achieve this honor since 2007,” said Sharma.
Saturday will be No. 18 Antal/Sharma’s chance to compete in the round of eight, taking on Cal’s No. 5 team of Sysanyi and Fabikova.
For Antal, each win reassures another match to compete for the Black and Gold. Amassing a 19-3 record alongside Sharma, the duo are one of Vanderbilt’s most successful teams having ridden an 18-match win streak at No. 2 doubles from Feb. 15th through May 19th.
“It feels great to leave with this honor,” said Antal. “I’ve been working towards this all four years and to actually have it makes it feel like all the hard work has paid off. Roo (Sharma) and I really clicked this year so it was cool to be able to be so in sync on the court.”