NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Each week This Week on West End takes a closer look at what’s in store for the Commodores in the coming days.
Vanderbilt baseball and football take center stage this week while the Vandy bowling team begins its postseason run. Commodore lacrosse starts conference play while women’s tennis and men’s golf have important regular-season events upcoming.
Here’s more on all the other happenings around West End this week:
Baseball
Vanderbilt had its nine-game winning streak snapped Sunday in a 10-6 loss at Oklahoma State, but that defeat came after two extremely impressive wins in a doubleheader sweep Saturday in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Vandy beat the Cowboys 5-0 and 18-4 on Saturday to win the series, its first road series of the season. Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter shined again Saturday as the Dores return home at 12-2.
This week Tim Corbin’s team hosts Belmont (4-7) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday before welcoming in South Carolina (11-3) for the start of SEC play and a three-game series at Hawkins Field over the weekend.
Football
A big step in the start of the Clark Lea era begins Wednesday when the Commodores take the field for the start of spring practice. Vanderbilt will have 15 practice sessions leading up to and including the annual spring game scheduled for April 17.
Vandy returns 17 starters and welcomes Lea and his staff for their inaugural spring campaign.
Soccer
After a rousing 3-1 win to open the spring season, Vanderbilt gets back on the pitch at 6 p.m. Sunday when it hosts Lipscomb.
The Commodores have been off since Thursday when it defeated visiting Kennesaw State 3-1. Madi Allen, Raegan Kelley and Haley Hopkins scored in the first of four matches leading up to the NCAA Tournament in April.
Lipscomb (4-2-1) is 3-0 in away matches this spring and is coming off a 1-0 defeat of Bellarmine on Sunday.
Bowling
Vanderbilt bowling will look to put its best throws together this weekend at the Southland Bowling League Championship in Harahan, Louisiana.
The three-day event begins Friday at Colonial Bowling Lanes. The double-elimination tournament will feature all eight league teams seeded by the most-recent NCAA RPI rankings entering tournament weekend.
Each match will follow a best-of-three format and teams will bowl one standard five-person game for total pinfall then five baker games for total pinfall. If one team wins both the traditional game and baker games they advance.
Vandy has relatively struggled the past two times out with a fourth-place at the Big Red Invitational and a ninth-place finish at the Music City Challenge.
Men’s golf
Head coach Scott Limbaugh’s program heads south for the Tiger Invitational hosted by Auburn.
The event is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday with a shotgun start when the Commodores will try to get 36 of the 54 holes in. Vandy is coming off a second-place finish at the LSU Invitaitonal last month.
Lacrosse
On a three-game winning streak, Vandy lacrosse begins American Athletic Conference play when it travels to Cincinnati for a two-game series.
The Commodores beat Mercer, High Point and Kennesaw State, respectively, to gain some momentum before the start of the league slate. Vanderbilt was picked to finish second in the AAC behind rival Florida.
Maddie Souza leads the Dores with 17 goals while Gabby Fornia has racked up 22 assists. Keeper Paige Gunning has a .444 save percentage.
Friday’s match is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. CT and then the two teams will face off again at 11 a.m. CT Sunday.
Women’s tennis
Coach Aleke Tsoubanos’ team is coming off a 4-3 win over visiting Kentucky on Sunday, a match in which the Commodores trailed 3-1.
Ranked 11th in the nation, Vandy improved to 12-2 and 4-2 in the SEC this season. Emma Kurtz, Marcella Cruz and Amanda Meyer had big wins in singles against Kentucky while Christina Rosca and Anessa Lee had a pivotal victory in doubles play.
Vanderbilt now turns its attention to Texas A&M for a noon match Friday.
Track and field
Vandy track and field is back in action this weekend when it competes at the Tiger Track Classic at the Hutsell-Rosen Track in Auburn, Alabama.
The Commodores are coming off a 14th-place finish at the SEC Indoor Championships.
During a shortened indoor season, Vanderbilt etched 17 new entries into the school record book which includes 14 different student-athletes in nine different individual events and two relays.
The Tiger Track Classic is scheduled to run Friday and Saturday.
Women’s golf
After a two-week break, Vanderbilt women’s golf heads to Athens, Georgia, to take part in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic.
The Commodores last took the course at the start of the month where they finished sixth at the Gamecock Intercollegiate. This weekend’s tournament will be the fourth of the spring for coach Greg Allen’s program.
Vandy also competed in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in November where it finished fourth.
