Nov. 4, 2016
FLUSHING, N.Y. – Astra Sharma made Vanderbilt women’s tennis history on Friday advancing to the semifinal round of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships to become the first Commodore in program history to reach the semifinals of the prestigious tournament.
Sharma’s tournament run comes off the heels of last month’s semifinal run at All-Americans, where she was the first Vanderbilt student-athlete to make it to the tournament’s final four.
“Astra (Sharma) played really well last week in Puerto Rico, I don’t think she gave up a set,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald “What we look for in fall is improvement and development. We don’t over do results, but it’s great to have her and Syd (Campbell) represent Vandy at the biggest fall tournament and to do so well… It’s great, a testament to their hard work and skill. For Astra to make semis, I think her first semi at All-Americans in LA was a good helper. Tomorrow she’ll be more prepared, she learns really well from experience and she’s competing really well.”
Friday morning’s round of 16 matchup against Auburn’s Alizee Michaud was a battle from first serve to last return as the Tiger rallied back to take the second set 6-3 and force a third set. With deuce points determining every other game, Sharma came back from being down 4-3 to break on a deuce point to make it four-all and broke again to take the match, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
The redshirt-junior took on Baylor’s Blair Shankle in quarterfinals, who also came off a third set thriller. Sharma took care of business to ensure her spot in semifinals, downing the Bear in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.
“I’m extremely excited to have the opportunity to keep competing against some of the best players in the country,” said Sharma. “Each match I’ve been learning how to deal with adversity and Boomer (Saia) and Coach (Macdonald) have been guiding me through it, so I’m very pleased with my development and growth.”
While Sharma moves on to face North Carolina’s Hayley Carter, No. 19 Sydney Campbell’s run in New York came to a close as the senior defeated Oklahoma’s Lily Miyazaki 6-2, 6-3 before falling to Ohio State’s No. 3 Francesca Di Lorenzo in quarterfinals. Vanderbilt was the only institution with two student-athlete representatives in singles quarterfinals, also a first for the black and gold.
Against top-seeded Di Lorenzo, the Commodore rallied after a tough 6-2 first set deficit. Down 5-3 in the third set, Campbell took the next four games in a row to force the third-set decider. While the senior fought hard, the Buckeye took the match and spot in NIIC semifinals, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
For match updates from the Billie Jean King Tennis National Tennis Center, follow @VandyWTennis on Twitter.
