Feb. 11, 2011
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The last time Vanderbilt faced a top-15 team, the Commodores came out victorious with a 4-3 win over No. 9 Northwestern, and hopes to continue that trend this weekend. The women’s tennis team is slated to play two top-15 teams this weekend in No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 8 Michigan.
With a 4-1 record, the Commodores moved up two spots in the latest ITA College Tennis Rankings and enter the weekend at No. 18. Last weekend, Vanderbilt picked up a pair of wins over Ivy League opponents. The `Dores topped Yale, 6-1, and Princeton, 7-0, to bounce back from a tough loss to Clemson in the championship match of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
Notre Dame enters the match with a 3-3 record after falling to Michigan on Friday evening. Junior Kristy Frilling, ranked ninth in the nation in singles, leads the Irish with a 5-0 record this spring. Shannon Mathews, also a junior, holds an identical 5-0 record in No. 2 singles matches and opened the spring ranked No. 106.
With the win over Notre Dame, Michigan stands 5-0 on the season. The Wolverines earned a bid to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships next weekend with wins over Auburn and Southern Cal in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. Michigan’s other wins this season have come at the hands of Western Michigan and Kentucky. Denise Muresan, who was the 2010 Big Ten Player of the Year, is ranked 11th in the nation in singles while senior Whitney Taney is No. 61 and Sam Critser is No. 105.
Live scoring for Saturday’s match at Notre Dame can be found . Live scoring and video for Sunday’s match can be found , and the match can also be seen on the Big Ten Network on Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. CT.
