Dec. 18, 2014
NASHVILLE, Tenn. –
Head women’s tennis coach Geoff Macdonald is pleased to announce that Fernanda Contreras and Summer Dvorak have signed national letter’s of intent to attend Vanderbilt University and play for the Commodores. Both future Commodores are highly touted five star recruits in the 2014 class
“We are thrilled that we signed two of the best players in the country”, said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “Both are known as superb athletes and competitors. We look for people who compete and who are athletic, because you can’t teach either one of those traits. There were some players who might have been ranked a little higher, but they didn’t wow us as much in terms of how hard they competed. We put a lot of stock in Emil Iankov, our strength and conditioning coach, in developing them as athletes and getting them stronger and faster, both of them are really good athletes and that will only improve.”
Contreras began playing tennis at the age of nine, and is now the second ranked player in the state of Texas and the No. 52 in the country. Out of Austin, Texas Contreras is currently boasting a 34-4 record; 12-2 against fellow five-star recruits and has compiled a perfect 13-0 record against four-stars.
“Fernanda was born in Mexico and is an incredible student who wants to be an engineer. She’s probably one of the best players in Texas and has a lot of shots and talent. Fernanda’s known for being a really spirited competitor and a very good doubles player. In a college environment with a lot of good training she’s going to take off”
This past year Contreras reached finals or semifinals in seven of nine tournaments. In the 2014 season the future Commodore reached her highest ranking yet, coming in at No. 42 in late April. Fernanda Contreras played under head coach Kim Riley at Westlake High School where she won the 2014 state 5-A Mixed Doubles Championship along side partner Charles Tan.
“Fernanda had a great visit and got to see some great individual work. I think it helped that she went to engineering classes with Marie (Casares), and got to get a really good sense for what Vanderbilt is about academically. I think that the idea of going to a great university that plays tennis in the SEC really appealed to her.”
Contreras comes from an athletics family with sister Magdalena who is a freshman swimmer at Colorado State University-Pueblo and family member Ivar Aramburu who played tennis for Texas-Pan-American.
Summer Dvorak began playing tennis at the age of six, but has been playing competitively for seven years. The senior is the No. 7 player in the state of California and No. 42 in the country. After moving from California to Utah at the age of ten, then moving back to to California for her senior year, Dvorak began playing along side the Laguna Beach Breakers under the command of coach Don Davis.
“First of all I like that Summer played a bunch of other sports. She ran cross-country for a team that was top-20 in the country. She (Dvorak) also played soccer, volleyball, and is a very interesting person for us. Summer is known as a really really good competitor and athlete. She’s under tennised, meaning that I think she’s going to get even better in college. I think Summer also had a wonderful visit here.”
With the Breakers Dvorak played in the number one spot in the lineup, and was selected by her peers as the team MVP for her excellence on and off the tennis court. Dvorak helped led her team to an Orange Coast League championships, the California Interscholastic Federation’s (CIF) Southern Section, Division II semifinals, and the state of California’s southern region quarterfinals. In her senior season with the breakers Summer complied a perfect 20-0 mark. Dvorak boasted a 41-3 record after the conclusion of CIF, winning the Orange Coach League Singles title, league MVP, and All-League Honors. In addition Summer reached the final of the singles championships for the Southern Section, which consisted of 572 high schools across southern Cali.
“Summer is a ferocious competitor who is undaunted by the challenges of competition, yet is humble in winning and gracious in losing”, said Laguna Beach head coach Don Davis. “She comes from a sports minded family, where her parents have been her exemplars, nurturing her competitive drive, whilst instilling values of sportsmanship, nurturing her exemplary character.”
Summer comes from a highly athletic background, as her father, Dusty Dvorak, represented team USA in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, garnering a gold medal. In 1998 Dusty Dvorak was inducted in the Volleyball Hall of Fame. Older sister Stormy plays tennis for Dixie State College in Utah.
