NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Snow and ice might have plagued this season’s ITA Kickoff in Nashville, but the No. 1 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team wasn’t fazed. The squad punched their ticket to the 2016 ITA National Team Indoors for the fourth year in a row with a 4-0 victory over No. 55 Brown University.
The win was also a huge milestone for the program, as it was the 25th-straight home victory for the team, which dates back to April 13th of 2013.
Held in Madison, Wisconsin this season, National Indoors is one of the most elite tournaments in collegiate tennis, with all participating schools earning a spot by winning the final match at their perspective ITA Kickoff Weekend site.
This years graduating class will have attended ITA Team Indoors every year, a feat every Commodore squad has worked hard to achieve.
“It’s very exciting to get to go to another indoors,” said senior Courtney Colton. “It’s a very elite tournament to get to go to and we’ve all worked our buts off to get to go to it; so we’re all very excited that we get another chance to compete.”
Vanderbilt began the Kickoff Weekend finale with an easy 6-2 win in tandems by No. 11 Colton and Sydney Campbell over the Bear’s Lord and Benotto.
The Commodores clinched the doubles point, as Fernanda Contreras and Astra Sharma controlled the match on court two, taking a 6-3 victory.
Using the momentum from her doubles win, for the second day in a row Contreras allowed her opponent minimal games in her 6-1, 6-3 win over Stearns at No. 5.
Ranked No. 15 in the nation, Frances Altick gave Vandy the 3-0 lead with a nice 6-2, 6-2 win on court two, the senior’s 11th win in 12 finishes matches.
On court three Colton battled through a tough first set against Camhi, but came back relentless in the second, clinching the Commodore’s tournament berth and 25th consecutive victory at the Currey Tennis Center; 6-4, 6-0.
“It’s crazy,” said Colton. “We’ve had some great wins on these courts; we beat Florida for the first time in years, Georgia and Alabama the year before that, so we’ve really tried to push the limits of our abilities, and of our program. It’s great to see that we’re getting great results from it.”
The Commodores have a big weekend on the horizon, as No. 7 Stanford heads to West End on Saturday Jan. 30th at 11:00 am CT.
Results:
#1 Vanderbilt 4, #55 Brown 0
Doubles:
1) No. 11 Sydney Campbell/Courtney Colton (VU) def. Dayna Lord/Alyza Benotto (BU); 6-2
2) Astra Sharma/Fernanda Contreras (VU) def. Hannah Camhi/Katie Ta (BU); 6-3
3) Ammu Mandalap/Maddie Stearns (BU) led Frances Altick/Ellie Yates (VU); 5-3
Finish: 2, 1*
Singles:
1) #24 Sydney Campbell (VU) led Dayna Lord (BU); 6-4, 3-4
2) #15 Frances Altick (VU) def. Alyza Benotto (BU); 6-2, 6-2
3) Courtney Colton (VU) def. Hannah Camhi (BU); 6-4, 6-0
4) Georgina Sellyn (VU) led Katie Ta (BU); 7-6, 2-2
5) Fernanda Contreras (VU) def. Maddie Stearns (BU); 6-1, 6-3
6) Ellie Yates (VU) vs. Ammu Mandalap (BU); Not Started
Finish: 5, 2, 3*
