Oct. 9, 2014
The Vanderbilt Women’s tennis team hosts its annual June Stewart Invitational this weekend at the Currey Tennis Center. The field is comprised of players from Arizona State, Princeton, and Purdue. The three-day tournament will display various tournament “experimental formats,” including a simultaneous format (three singles and two doubles) which will be used throughout Friday’s play.
The `Dores are coming into their third tournament of the fall with successful showings at both the Furman Fall Classic, in which Vanderbilt swept singles play winning five flight championships, and the Riviera ITA All-American Championships.
With all three visiting teams ending the 2014 season ranked in the top 45, the Commodores have a great opportunity to pair-up against three competitive collegiate teams. Arizona State leads the trio, finishing last season’s campaign ranked No. 32 by the ITA, with Princeton following at No. 36 and Purdue at No. 43.
Due to a bleak weather forecast, Friday’s tournament action is set to begin inside at 9:30 a.m. CT. With hopes of sunnier skies to play outside, Saturday’s action will begin at 10 a.m. and Sunday at 9 a.m.
June Stewart
June Stewart began her career in the Vanderbilt sports information office in 1973 and was named assistant SID in 1977. From 1979-90, she served as Vanderbilt’s women’s sports information director and in 1990, Stewart was promoted to women’s sports program director and assistant athletics director for future revenue sports.
In 1993, Stewart was named associate athletics director at Vanderbilt and remained in that position until her retirement. She was the first woman at Vanderbilt to serve as assistant SID for men’s sports, and was a member of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Committee from 1990-96.
Stewart served as president of CoSIDA in 1990-91 and was the first of only three female presidents in the organization’s history. She was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1997 and received the CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
