No. 15 Vanderbilt Commodores (6-0)
vs.
vs. Louisville Cardinals / at No. 9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
UL: Feb. 12, 2021 • 2:30 p.m. CT | GT: Feb. 14, 2021 • 10 a.m. CT
The ACC Awaits
- To finish a five-match homestand and the scheduled nonconference portion of its 2021 schedule, No. 15 Vanderbilt will host Louisville on Friday afternoon at Currey Tennis Center before visiting No. 6 Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Sunday morning.
- Due to COVID-19 protocols and social distancing guidelines, fans are not permitted to attend Friday’s match at Currey Tennis Center.
- Fans can follow the match via live stream, live scoring or on Twitter by following @VandyWTennis.
ITA Rankings
- The Commodores are currently ranked No. 15 in the country. The Commodores have held strong at No. 15 since opening the season, which now includes three releases of the team rankings since the start of the campaign.
- While three teams started the year in the top 15, two SEC teams squads are currently top 15 with Georgia at No. 5 and Vandy at No. 15.
- In addition to the team ranking, fifth-year senior Christina Rosca opened the season ranked No. 20 in the national singles poll. The spot makes her the second-highest ranked player in the SEC with Georgia’s Katarina Jokic at No. 16. The preseason list is the only poll released thus far by the ITA.
Elite Ranks
- With a three-set victory on Jan. 17. against Western Kentucky, Rosca earned her 100th career singles victory.
- To date throughout her career, she owns an overall 104-48 singles record.
- Combining singles and doubles, Rosca is 194-106 in her career as a Commodore thanks to her 90-58 record in doubles play.
Looking Astern
- Taking on a pair of in-state foes, Vanderbilt dispatched Lipscomb and ETSU 7-0 to move to 6-o on the season.
- Now 6-0, it’s the first time the program has started a season 6-0 since 2017-18.
- Against Lipscomb, the Dores put on a performance for the ages with a pair of 6-0 doubles wins and a pair of 6-0, 6-0 singles victories to go with two more 6-1, 6-0 wins.
A New Captain
- Over summer, Aleke Tsoubanos took over as the program’s head coach after 13 seasons on staff as an assistant coach.
- With Tsoubanos taking over, Geoff Macdonald remains on staff as the program’s assistant coach.
- One of the most-respected college coaching duos in the country, Tsoubanos and Macdonald led the Commodores to the program’s first national championship in 2015. The pair has also ushered the Dores to 236 wins, 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and back-to-back SEC Tournament and regular-season titles in 2017-18.
- Tsoubanos’s first dual-match victory came Jan. 17 in a 7-0 sweep of Western Kentucky.
Badges of Honor
- Holly Staff earned the first SEC Freshman of the Week honor on Jan. 28.
- Since earning the honor, she has continued the dominant start to her collegiate career with a perfect 11-0 mark across singles and doubles this spring.
A Look Back at 2019-20
- Last season, Vanderbilt went 7-3 across 10 matches with a 3-1 mark in conference play before the remainder of the year was canceled due to COVID-19. Two of those losses were by 4-3 scorelines against Arizona State and No. 36 LSU.
- Rosca won each of her last five matches of the season, finishing the spring campaign with an 8-2 record and a 6-1 mark at No. 1 singles.
- Cruz also had a strong debut season, going 5-1 on the year – all at No. 5 singles – before the shutdown.
On The Radar
- With eight nonconference matches in the books after this weekend, Vanderbilt will turn its attention to SEC competition with home matches next weekend against LSU and Texas A&M. First up, LSU visits Currey Tennis Center on Thursday for a 2 p.m. match before the Dores host the Aggies on Saturday at noon.