May 26, 2018
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C – For the second straight season the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team will have a representative in the semifinal round of the NCAA singles championships.
Taking place at the Wake Forest Tennis Center, eighth-seeded Fernanda Contreras faces Pepperdine’s 9-16-seeded Ashley Lahey on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. CT.
Contreras has reached the semifinal or final match in each of her individual tournaments this season. Up against a familiar opponent in Florida’s 18th-ranked Anna Danilina, the junior Contreras earned her 44th victory of the season in an inspired 7-5, 6-1 battle.
Contreras is Vanderbilt’s second student-athlete to reach the NCAA semifinals, following in the footsteps of former All-American Sydney Campbell in 2017. Campbell became the first Commodore to contend in the Final Four, falling to Michigan’s Brienne Minor 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-0.
“Fernanda played a tactical masterpiece,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “Danilina is one of the toughest outs in college tennis and Fern played her just right. I think almost every decision you make at this level has to be played in the right way, and Fern did that. Danilina is really good, which is a testament to how Fernanda is playing.”
Contreras’ match preceded a bittersweet moment for Commodore fans in redshirt senior Astra Sharma‘s final collegiate singles performance.
Vanderbilt’s first five-time All-America honoree (2018 singles and doubles, 2017 singles and doubles, 2015 doubles), Sharma concluded her singles career as a Vanderbilt Commodore in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA singles championships against Pepperdine’s Mayar Sherif.
In pure Sharma fashion, the Perth, Australia native played relentless tennis throughout the entire match. Not letting a 6-2 first-set deficit impact the remainder of her match, Sharma put her foot on the gas entering the second set and forced a third and final set with a 6-2 second-set victory.
In the midst of a neck-and-neck third set, “Roo” held serve while trailing 5-6 to force a third-set tiebreaker. Sherif earned a 5-2 tiebreaker lead, however Sharma wouldn’t go down quietly, chipping away at the Wave’s lead, 5-6. Sherif acquired the final point of the breaker to secure her place in the NCAA semifinals and cement Sharma’s collegiate singles career, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5).
Sharma’s battles continued in her quarterfinal doubles match with Contreras. The Commodore duo went to a three-set 10-point tiebreaker with Duke’s 5-8th seeded Ellyse Hamlin and Kaitlyn McCarthy.
The Vandy tandem pulled through the first set for the 7-5 lead, but the Blue Devils rallied to take the second set 6-1 and tiebreaker, 5-7, 6-1, 1-0(5). Sharma and Contreras ended their doubles career as NCAA quarterfinalists and 2018 doubles All-Americans.
Following her return to Music City, Sharma plans to make Nashville home. Having already competed in one Grand Slam and won multiple professional tournaments, the Aussie will venture back out on tour while using Nashville as her home base.
“The gratitude I feel for her to come back…” Macdonald reflected. “College tennis for Astra has been all about the team. She isn’t driven by individual play. Once the team was done on Tuesday, she just had fun out there playing tennis, but it just wasn’t the same for her. We came so close for us on Tuesday, and to give her credit she led the team. What a career… it’s been a privilege to watch her develop into a world-class tennis player and human being.
“She (Sharma) shows that you can be totally about the team and still achieve individually. The accolades were afterthoughts to her. I think she shows that you can win and be an absolute class act. You can win and do it by working hard and being a smart, happy, well-adjusted person. You don’t have to be mean or cheat or cut corners… just go out and get after it.”
A message from Astra Sharma:
What a ride it has been. I am so immensely grateful to Vanderbilt and the community that has followed my journey since day one. None of my success would be possible without any of the following people, so thank you:
To my family for watching me on the other side of the world, thank you for the love and belief you have in me.
To Aleke and Geoff, for taking a chance on me and helping me develop and grow into the player I am. I owe them so much for their time and patience.
To my teammates who have set an example, challenged me every day on the practice court and held me up in matches, without them all of this would not matter.
Finally, to the athletic training staff which has kept me from breaking myself these five long years, I thank you with all my heart. I am so proud to call myself a Commodore and I cannot wait to see where life takes me next. Fight Dores!
