Feb. 22, 2018
The seventh-ranked Vanderbilt women’s tennis team concludes non-conference play this weekend on the road, facing No. 24 Northwestern at 2:30 p.m. CT on Friday and top-ranked North Carolina at noon CT on Sunday.
Vanderbilt suffered its first loss of the season against the then-No. 6 Pepperdine Waves in the squad’s latest competition. The 4-2 loss came at National Team Indoor semifinals and concluded VU’s longest run in the tournament since 2002.
Heading back into competition after a weekend break, VU continues to face high-caliber teams on Friday and Sunday. Northwestern will be Vandy’s sixth top-25 opponent of the season, while UNC clinched the top spot in ITA rankings after winning National Team Indoors over Pepperdine.
For updates and a behind the scenes looks at the program, follow @VandyWTennis on Twitter.
Commodore Notables:
- Vanderbilt heads into the weekend with a 6-1 record
- Four Commodores appear in the ITA singles poll – No. 4 Fernanda Contreras, No. 24 Christina Rosca, No. 56 Astra Sharma and No. 120 Emma Kurtz
- VU boasts two top-25 tandems – No. 23 Contreras/Sharma and No. 25 Rosca/Kurtz
- Meyer and Rosca are undefeated in singles play entering the weekend
- Sunday’s contest will be the Dores’ third match against a top-10 team, sweeping then-No. 1 Stanford and later No. 3 Florida
- The Commodores own one SEC weekly honor, as Sharma was named the SEC’s Player of the Week on Feb. 7
- Vanderbilt returns home on March 2 as the squad opens SEC play versus Auburn
Watching the Wildcats:
- Northwestern owns a 5-3 record, with losses to No. 21 Kentucky, No. 16 UCLA and No. 11 Texas
- The Wildcats have one ranked win this season, edging out No. 22 Washington, 4-3
- NU boasts three top-30 doubles teams – No. 2 Erin Larner/Maddie Lipp, No. 13 Alex Chatt/Lee Orr and No. 28 Orr/Larner
- Chatt/Lee are undefeated in doubles play, playing primarily on court two
- Larner/Lipp and unranked Julie Byrne/Rheeya Doshi have just one doubles loss on the year
- In singles, Lipp has just one loss on court three
- Friday’s match can be followed through LIVE STREAM ($) and SCORING
Tracking the Tar Heels:
- North Carolina boasts a 12-0 record headed into the weekend
- VU is the second SEC challenge for UNC, the Tar Heels defeated Ole Miss in one of their closer victories, 4-2
- UNC fields two top-20 doubles teams – No. 9 Jessie Aney/Alexa Graham and No. 20 Alle Sanford/Sara Daavettila
- The Tar Heels have five ranked singles student-athletes – No. 8 Sanford, No. 15 Makenna Jones, No. 28 Daavettila, No. 32 Aney and No. 93 Graham
- Daavettila and Graham remain undefeated in the UNC singles lineup
- Sunday’s match can be followed through LIVE STREAM and SCORING
