No. 14 Vanderbilt Commodores
vs.
No. 27 Texas A&M Aggies
March 20, 2021 • Noon CT
Take Two
- Continuing a four-match homestand to close the 2021 home slate, No. 14 Vanderbilt will welcome No. 27 Texas A&M to Currey Tennis Center this Saturday for a noon match.
- Saturday’s match is a reschedule after the initially-scheduled match was postponed on Feb. 20 due to COVID-19 within the Texas A&M program.
- Due to COVID-19 protocols and social distancing guidelines, fans are not permitted to attend Sunday’s match at Currey Tennis Center.
- Fans can follow the match via live stream, live scoring or on Twitter by following @VandyWTennis.
ITA Rankings
- In the newest release of the Oracle/ITA rankings, Vanderbilt checked in at No. 14 in the nation.
- 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 Jan. 17 against Western Kentucky, Rosca earned her 100th career singles victory.
- In addition to her 100th singles win, she also earned her 200th career win across singles and doubles Feb. 22 against LSU.
- To date throughout her career, she owns an overall 110-50 singles record while going 11-2 thus far this spring season.
- Combining singles and doubles, Rosca is 205-111 in her career as a Commodore thanks to her 95-61 record in doubles play.
Closing In
- Now with 98 doubles victories in her career at Vanderbilt, Emma Kurtz is two wins away from reaching 100.
- The fifth-year senior holds a career mark of 177-123 across 300 career singles and doubles matches in black and gold.
Looking Astern
- Vanderbilt put together a big comeback to beat No. 31 Kentucky on Sunday afternoon.
- Trailing 3-1, Marcella Cruz, Anessa Lee and Kurtz, in that order, each won singles matches to turn the deficit into a 4-3 victory.
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 248 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 and her first win over a ranked opponent came when the Dores beat N0. 9 Georgia Tech on the road Feb. 12.
Badges of Honor
- Holly Staff earned the first SEC Freshman of the Week honor on Jan. 28.
- Cruz then went on to earn SEC Newcomer of the Week on Wednesday after starting Vanderbilt’s comeback to beat No. 31 Kentucky.
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
- Set for the final home weekend of the season, Vanderbilt will host Tennessee and Georgia on March 26 and 28, respectively. The two matches close out a 13-match home state.
- After next weekend, Vanderbilt will go on the road two weekends in a row to close the regular season before shifting its attention to the 2021 SEC Tournament in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.