Jan. 24, 2008
Friday Notes vs. Michigan | Saturday Notes vs. Notre Dame
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 16 Vanderbilt women’s tennis team returns home this weekend to face two nationally-ranked opponents as it welcomes No. 23 Michigan on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and hosts No. 9 Notre Dame at Noon on Saturday.
“It’s great to play this level of competition this early in the season,” head coach Geoff Macdonald said. “We’re going to learn a lot from it. Michigan has improved. We’ve had a great rivalry with Notre Dame. I think it’s going to be great competition. I’m excited to see the team compete.”
Vanderbilt enters the weekend with a 3-0 dual match record after defeating two ranked opponents last weekend in Albuquerque, N.M. The Black and Gold got past host school No. 67 New Mexico 5-2 last Friday and dominated No. 38 Colorado 7-0 on Sunday. Five Commodores enter the second week of the season with perfect singles records, including No. 34 Amanda Taylor who only lost five games in three matches last week at the No. 1 singles position.
Michigan opens the season ranked No. 23 by the ITA. Friday’s match will be the first dual match of the year for the Wolverines. Michigan returns five letterwinners from last year’s team that finished 17-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines are led by Ronni Bernstein, who is in her first season as head coach after being the head coach at Florida International for 10 years.
“Ronni Bernstein is one of the best coaches in the country,” Macdonald said. “I look for them to be much improved. She was a world-class player and won an NCAA championship in her collegiate career.”
No. 9 Notre Dame enters Saturday’s match with a 1-0 record after easily defeating No. 75 Louisville 6-1 last weekend. The Irish advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s NCAA Championships before they were downed by eventual national champion Georgia Tech. Notre Dame has five players ranked nationally in singles led by sophomore Cosmina Ciobanu who is ranked 62nd in the country.
Vanderbilt and Notre Dame will be meeting for the ninth time in the series history. The `Dores lead the all-time series 6-2, but Notre Dame captured the last meeting, winning a hard-fought 4-3 match last season in South Bend.
A complete recap will also be available following each match.
