May 22, 2018
By Zac Ellis
VUCommodores.com
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship at Wake Forest University, Vanderbilt head coach Geoff Macdonald found himself once again reflecting on the career of redshirt senior Astra Sharma.
“A while back I asked myself, ‘Is there an athlete — male or female – at Vanderbilt who’s done more than Astra Sharma has done in her career?'” Macdonald said.
Sharma had a shot to add to her legacy in her final stint in the NCAA Tournament this week. Instead, Sharma and the top-seeded Commodores ended their postseason run with a 4-3 loss to No. 15 Stanford, the result of a gritty NCAA Championship match in Winston-Salem, N.C.
But while Sharma fell short of adding another title to her overflowing trophy case, the Dores’ loss did little to tarnish what has been illustrious Vanderbilt career for the fifth-year senior. The native Australian also couldn’t allow a title-match loss to overshadow her final collegiate season.
“For me personally, this was the most dominant team I’ve been on,” Sharma said. “From the get-go, this team was just used to winning.”
Sharma and the Commodores looked poised to claim some NCAA hardware early against Stanford. The 11th-ranked duo of Sharma and junior Fernanda Contreras helped Vanderbilt claim the doubles point over the Cardinal and gain momentum ahead of singles. But Stanford struck early by taking all but one first set, with Sharma’s first-set tiebreaker over Stanford’s Michaela Gordon at the No. 1 spot serving as the lone exception.
That early success allowed Stanford to steal momentum. Sharma’s eventual win over Gordon, 7-6(3), 6-3, knotted the overall match at 2-2. After a court five loss by Emma Kurtz put Stanford ahead 3-2, the Dores needed wins on courts two and four to secure the championship. But a 4-6, 6-2, 5-7 win by the Cardinal’s Melissa Lord over Contreras on court two sealed the title for Stanford.
“Stanford got us early in a few places and got the momentum on their side,” Sharma said. “It was tricky because for the whole match, we were chasing them, in a way. I give a lot of credit to Amanda [Meyer] and Fern for battling late. It was such a great effort by the whole team.”
Your NCAA Finalists! #FightDores
All-Tournament Team
MVP – Sharma
No. 1 – Sharma
No. 1 dubs – Sharma/Contreras
No. 2 dubs – Kurtz/Smith pic.twitter.com/fW3948U4yj Vandy Women’s Tennis (@Vandywtennis) May 22, 2018
Sharma’s team tournament career came to a close with a loss, but her Vanderbilt career will be remembered most for its laundry list of successes. The Perth, Australia native helped Vanderbilt win its first NCAA Championship in program history in 2015, clinching the match as a redshirt freshman. That year, Sharma earned NCAA Tournament and SEC Tournament MVP honors as well as All-America recognition in doubles.
The accolades kept rolling as Sharma evolved into a more lethal player for the Vanderbilt. In 2017, she became just the fourth male or female Commodore to be named SEC Player of the Year in helping Vanderbilt to both SEC regular season and tournament titles for the first time. Sharma also garnered All-America honors in singles and doubles, the first Vanderbilt player since Sarah Riske in 2003 to claim both in a single season.
This past January, Sharma participated in the doubles portion of the Australian Open before leading the Commodores to repeat as SEC regular season and tournament champions. Despite Tuesday’s loss, Sharma capped her career with an astounding 15-1 singles record in NCAA Tournament team play; she was later named the 2018 NCAA Tournament MVP, the tournament’s top singles player and one piece of the top doubles pairing alongside the junior Contreras.
That string of success might be unmatched in Vanderbilt history, Macdonald said.
“Think about it,” he said. “Astra helped win a national championship and an SEC Tournament title in her first year and reach a Final Four in her second. She now has three SEC Tournament titles, two SEC regular-season titles, two Final Fours, a national championship and an NCAA runner-up. All the while, she has made great grades and is respected as a class-act nationwide. I don’t think you can find an athlete at Vanderbilt who’s done more.”
Technically, Sharma still has more to play for at Vanderbilt. She will remain in Winston-Salem to take part in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament with teammates Contreras and Rosca beginning Wednesday. But with her team goals now behind her, Sharma has begun to reflect on what she will remember most about being a Commodore.
“We accomplished so much, and no one can take that away from this team,” Sharma said. “But to be honest, it’s the everyday stuff that really stands out. The bonds I’ve made with teammates, the relationships with Aleke and Geoff, you can’t take that stuff away. Success is nice, but college tennis brought me to Nashville, a place I treasure; I actually plan to make this my home base now. It’s been special to be a part of this team at Vanderbilt.”
Zac Ellis is the Writer and Digital Media Editor for Vanderbilt Athletics.
