Sept. 22, 2016
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team kicks off the fall tournament season at one of the team’s favorite and most competitive competitions, the Furman Fall Classic.
The 30th annual Furman Fall Classic will be held this weekend at the Mickel Tennis Center on the campus of Furman University in Greenville, S.C. The tournament will feature eight teams, with six programs ranked in the ITA top 63 of the final 2016 team rankings.
“This year is probably the toughest the competition has been at the Furman Fall Classic,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “It’s a wonderful fall tournament, we love going there. I can only imagine what it’s like to be 18 and playing your first college tournament, but more importantly from a tennis standpoint, we will learn a lot this weekend. The freshmen will get a sense of the level of college tennis… and I’m glad we’re jumping into such a deep level of competition right away.”
The fifth-ranked Commodores are one of three SEC teams in attendance and are the second highest ranked team, sitting just behind No. 4 UNC. Other team’s that appear in the ITA poll include Mississippi State (23rd), Wake Forest (29th), Clemson (35th), and Florida State.
The eight-team field, which also features Tennessee and Furman, includes 12 singles players and six doubles teams ranked in the preseason ITA Collegiate Tennis rankings.
Vanderbilt’s 2016-17 team consists of six returning players, two freshmen and one transfer. For Christine Rosca, Emma Kurtz and sophomore Emily Smith, this weekend’s action will be their first time representing Vanderbilt in competition. Sydney Campbell, Georgina Sellyn and Summer Dvorak will not be appearing in this weekend’s tournament action.
“I’m just really excited to be able to compete as a ‘Dore,” said Rosca, a native of Princeton, N.J. “I really want to play well this weekend. I’ve been training a lot, and coach has really helped me in the couple of weeks that I’ve been in Nashville. We’re just really excited to see how practice pays off.”
On the flip side, redshirt-junior Astra Sharma, will be the most seasoned Commodore in competition in Greenville. Coming in at No. 19 in the nation, Sharma took her FFC fight championship during the 2014-15 fall season.
“I feel like I’ve had to step-up in terms of being a leader on this team,” said Sharma. “We’ve all been trying to educate the younger players on what is expected of them on the team, and what our culture is like. It’s a different feeling being the oldest… having people look to you, I think it’s a big responsibility. We’ve let the freshmen know that the fall is a time to build attitude and that it’s great experience before the spring.”
Tournament format:
The tournament will feature eight teams, in a flighted competition (i.e. no team winner, just individual flight champions for singles and doubles).
Doubles play will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, followed by singles action at 1 p.m. Play will continue on Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 9 a.m. each day. Admission is free to the event, and free coffee and donuts will be available for fans.
– All doubles will be eight game prosets, no ad scoring. Tiebreaker at 7-all.
– All singles will be the best two out of three sets, no ad scoring.