May 24, 2018
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. –Fernanda Contreras and Astra Sharma of the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team went undefeated on Thursday in the NCAA singles and doubles tournament.
With the singles victories, came additional individual honors for the student-athletes as both are noted 2018 automatic All-Americans. To earn automatic All-American status a student-athlete must be a top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Championship, reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles Championship, or finish in the Top 20 of final Oracle/ITA National Singles Rankings.
Earning the eighth seed in the singles tournament and ranked 10thin the country, Contreras is an automatic All-American. The honor is the junior’s first All-American title. Thursday’s dominant 6-1, 6-1 win over Texas Tech’s No. 58 Felicity Maltby ensured the Commodore a spot in tomorrow’s round of 16 match. Contreras will face Loyola Marymount’s 48th-ranked Veronica Miroshnichenko tomorrow at 9 a.m. CT.
Sharma, now a four-time All-American (2018 singles, 2017 singles and doubles, 2015 doubles), cruised through her round of 32 match as well. The redshirt-senior and reigning NCAA tournament MVP limited Denver’s No. 62 Julia O’Loughlin to one game the entire match. Following the 6-0, 6-1 win, the Commodore is slated to compete tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. CT against Stanford’s No. 43 Emily Arbuthnott.
Looking for a taste of revenge against the Cardinal, Sharma will take notes from teammate Amanda Meyer. The Commodore freshman defeated Arbuthnott 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to level the match in the NCAA championship.
No. 11 Contreras and Sharma made their NCAA doubles tournament debut as a tandem and made instant waves in the tournament bracket. Facing second-seeded/No. 2 Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham of North Carolina, the Commodores earned a season-high ranked win against the duo. Sharma and Contreras delivered the All-Americans a commanding 6-2, 6-4 loss.
The Commodore tandem will face Kansas’ 20th-ranked Nina Khmelnitckaia and Anastasia Rychagova tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. CT.
For updates and a behind-the-scenes look at the tournament, follow @VandyWTennis and @NCAATennis on Twitter.
