Feb. 2, 2017
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team continues non-conference action at home this weekend, hosting a pair of Oracle/ITA Top-25 teams.
The No. 9 Commodores will take on their first ranked foe of the season in No. 23 Northwestern on Friday at 1 p.m. On Sunday, VU will battle the seventh-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at 1 p.m. Both matches are set to take place inside the Currey Tennis Center.
Last time out:
Vandy opened up the 2017 season last weekend, clinching its fifth-straight National Team Indoors appearance. Newcomers Emma Kurtz, Christina Rosca and Emily Smith all made their Commodore debuts.
VU’s first matchup of the season came against the Virginia Tech Hokies on Friday. Vanderblit walked away with it’s 36th-consecutive win at home in a 4-0 sweep. Saturday evening the ‘Dores took the ITA Kickoff finale with another 4-0 win over, this time over the Kansas Jayhawks.
National Team Indoors is set to begin on Feb. 10 and is hosted this season by the Yale Bulldogs.
Scouting the Wildcats:
No. 23 Northwestern heads to West End with a 4-1 record, defeating Akron, Chicago State, Harvard and Tulsa.
In its last competition, then-No. 25 Northwestern was narrowly denied a berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, falling to No. 10 Duke, 4-3, in a regional round championship match as part of ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Northwestern packs a punch in doubles, traveling to Music City with three tandems in the Top-25; No. 6 Maddie Lipp/Alex Chatt, No. 23 Rheeya Doshi/Jillian Rooney and No. 24 Lee Or/Erin Larner.
Last season, the Wildcats went 14-11 (10-1) and competed in the second round of the NCAA team tournament. In their last meeting, the then-No. 5 Commodores downed the 25th-ranked Wildcats on the road, 4-3.
Scouting the Buckeyes:
Following last weekend’s ITA Kickoff Regional Championship, No. 7 OSU (4-0) will join Vandy at National Team Indoors.
The Buckeyes boast victories over Bowling Green, Wright State, Florida State and the Southeastern Conference’s own Alabama. In what should be a thrilling match, Ohio State brings four ranked players to West End, including top-ranked Francesca Di Lorenzo, No. 41 Anna Sanford, No. 59 Miho Kowase, and No. 88 Olivia Sneed.
VU and OSU squared off twice last season in a one-week span, with Ohio State taking both competitions by a score of 4-2.
The first 100 fans at Vandy’s match against Ohio State will receive a Jimmy John’s sandwich.
All Vanderbilt regular season matches are free. For updates and a behind the scenes look at the program, follow @VandyWTennis on Twitter.
