Jan. 27, 2018
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With a 4-1 victory over the Florida State Seminoles, the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team punched its sixth-consecutive ticket to National Team Indoors. This season’s tournament is hosted by the Wisconsin Badgers and will take place Feb. 9-12.
“National Indoors is a great tournament,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald, “and we look forward to heading back to Madison, Wisc. where they used to host the tournament annually. It’s super intense competition and continues our philosophy of playing a hard schedule. It’ll be a really good experience for the team, and that tournament will be a lot of fun.”
Like yesterday’s 2018 dual match opener, Vanderbilt dropped a close doubles point as the Noles earned victories on courts two then one. The clinch on court one came in nail-biting fashion as the Commodores held serve to force a tiebreaker.
With a dominant 6-3 victory by Fernanda Contreras and Emily Smith in their pocket and a loss on court two, the Dores relied on No. 19 Emma Kurtz and Christina Rosca to pull off the tiebreaker and clinch the advantageous doubles point.
VU climbed back from a 2-4 deficit, but the Seminole’s Petra Hule and Andrea Garcia earned key points late in the tiebreaker to seal the doubles victory, 7-6(5).
Vanderbilt put its doubles loss on the back burner and came out on fire in singles, nabbing opening sets on courts one through four.
No. 19 Rosca hastily leveled the overall team score to 1-all as the sophomore handed Petra Hule a 6-2, 6-1 loss on court three. Fellow sophomore Emma Kurtz gave VU the 2-1 advantage as the Atlanta, Ga. native escaped her first set with a 7-5 victory and flew through her second set for a flawless 6-0 final set.
Fourth-ranked Contreras followed her teammates with a win of her own, defeating Gabriella Castaneda 6-3, 6-3 for her 81st career singles victory. Redshirt-senior Astra Sharma came through for the clinch, ensuring Vandy’s spot at National Team Indoors with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Carla Touly.
For updates and a behind the scenes look at the program, follow @VandyWTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
