Oct. 17, 2014
NASHVILLE, TENN – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team travels up the road to Knoxville, Tenn. to begin the Ohio Valley Regional Championships.
The `Dores send six singles player, that compose three doubles teams. The tournament lasts Oct. 17-21. Vandy begins both singles and doubles main draw action tomorrow, with all players automatically qualifying.
“I think it’s been a very productive fall,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “We’ve had some really great practices. The regional is a challenge because it’s so much tennis at two different sites. The players have to do a really good job of getting up for matches by themselves. It’s a great event and we’re looking forward to it.”
The Commodores’ Georgina Sellyn won the USTA/ITA singles regional championship, advancing to the National Indoor Championships.
This year Vanderbilt sends two seniors; No. 8 seeded Ashleigh Antal, and the No. 3 seeded (No. 82) Marie Casares. Ellie Yates and No. 63 Courtney Colton, both juniors, travel to Knoxville, with Colton as the No. 2 singles seed and part of the No. 3 seeded doubles pairing. Colton’s partner Sydney Campbell is the No. 1 singles seed going into the regional. Fellow sophomore Astra Sharma completes the Commodore’s group of six.
“Last year Georgina (Sellyn) won the regional, and we had four players in the quarterfinals. We didn’t do as well as we had hoped in doubles, so I’m hoping our doubles comes up to the level of our singles last year.”
Play in the main doubles draw will get started on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. ET. The draw consists of 32 tandems. The No. 3 seed and No. 17 tandems team of Colton and Campbell begin first thing tomorrow morning. Casares and Yates will join at 9 a.m., facing the No. 4 seed out of Purdue. Sharma and Antal are the No. 6 doubles seed and begin match play at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Following the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional, the Commodores head to Tuscaloosa, Ala. for the Roberta Alison Invitational, which takes place Oct. 31 – Nov. 2.
