Jan. 12, 2010
Coming off their 15th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team is looking for better results in 2010. The Commodores return five of its top six players from a team that finished among the top-five in the Southeastern Conference standings and ranked among the nation’s top 25 programs for the 15th consecutive year.
Sixteenth-year head coach, Geoff Macdonald liked what he saw from his club during the fall season and is looking forward to a strong dual season.
“I think we had a really good fall season,” Macdonald said. “I saw a lot of improvement in virtually every player on our team. We needed to improve our doubles play after last season and we had a very successful fall in doing so.”
Vanderbilt will turn to its three returning upperclassmen (Catherine Newman, Hannah Blatt and Keilly Ulery) for leadership during the spring.
Both Newman and Blatt have been extremely successful on the court and in the classroom during their four years at Vanderbilt.
Newman has spent the past two seasons playing at the top two doubles and singles slots, and has been named All-SEC three years in a row. During 2008-09, Newman defeated a team-high nine ranked opponents while playing most of the season at the No. 1 position. The Greensboro, N.C., native is the only Commodore on this year’s team to have played in two NCAA singles championships (2007, 2008).
“Catherine to me is one of the best players to ever play at Vanderbilt,” Macdonald said. “She leads by example and she is probably the hardest working player ever to play here. She has put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to be the best player she can be.”
Blatt enters her final dual season coming off the best fall of her collegiate career, where she went 10-6 in singles and 8-8 in doubles. The Nashville, Tenn., native won at least two singles matches in four of the five fall tournaments, including a 3-1 record at the Kentucky Invite.
“I look for Hannah to contribute significantly in singles and doubles this year,” Macdonald said. “She had a real good fall and I think it was kind of a break through fall for her. She had a couple of really good wins at the Fall SECs and she played well at pretty much every tournament we played in.”
Off the court, Blatt has been named to the SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll each of the past two seasons while Newman has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV team the last two seasons.
Ulery heads into her junior year with a 53-33 career singles record after going 11-5 in singles and 7-4 in doubles during the fall. The Wellington, Fla., native played most of the 2009 season at No. 3 singles while compiling an 8-10 mark. Ulery made an immediate impact to the Commodores two years ago when she was named to the SEC All-Freshman team after going a team best 9-2 against the SEC at the No. 5 singles slot.
“Keilly has a heck of a back court game and she is a very talented player,” Macdonald said. “She is working hard to improve her serve and if that part of her game comes along than she has the capability to be one of the best players in the country. I look for her to play a big part in our team’s success this season.”
The Commodores also welcome the addition of California-Berkeley transfer Rachael Dillon to the squad. Dillon will be a junior this season after playing her first two years for the Golden Bears. A native of Dublin, Ireland, Dillon spent her prep years playing for her home country of Ireland in the Federation Cup before signing a National Letter of Intent with Cal. After not competing in the fall, Dillon will be eligible to play for the ‘Dores in January and should play a significant role in both singles and doubles.
“Rachael battled some injuries throughout the fall but she contributed tremendously as a team player,” Macdonald said. “She has a great game and she is a very talented doubles player. I think if she continues to improve and get in game shape she will be a major contributor for us.”
After starting three freshmen in the lineup last season, Vanderbilt will turn to its strong sophomore class of Chelsea Preeg, Heather Steinbauer, Jackie Wu, Erica Robertson and Megan Gornet. The trio of Preeg, Wu and Steinbauer spent the whole season in the top-six in singles, going a combined 71-30 during their first year of collegiate tennis.
Wu enters her sophomore season as VU’s top contender to play the top singles spot after clinching a spot in the NCAA singles championship in 2009. The Holmdel, N.J., native earned second team All-SEC honors last spring after winning a team-high 26 singles matches in 2008-09. Wu was the only Commodore to finish last season ranked in singles (No. 54) and doubles (No. 41). The sophomore is coming off a strong fall season where she went 12-3 in singles and a team best 14-4 with Chelsea Preeg in doubles.
Preeg capped off an impressive freshman campaign by going a combined 25-11 in singles during 2008-09, including 7-2 in singles against the SEC, while competing at the No. 4 position. The Naples, Fla., native teamed with Newman to sport an 8-8 record in doubles during the 2009 dual season. Preeg heads into the 2010 dual season fresh off a strong fall where she went 13-4 in singles and 14-4 in doubles.
Like Preeg and Wu, Steinbauer made an immediate impact to the Commodore program in just her first year of collegiate tennis. Steinbauer, an accomplished singles and doubles player, went 12-4 in singles during the dual season, including a team-best 8-1 against the SEC. In doubles, the Woodlands, Texas native teamed up with Wu en route to earning a national ranking as high as No. 38 while playing the entire season at No. 1. Steinbauer garnered SEC Freshman of the Week honors last season after clinching the match-point for the Commodores in wins over nationally-ranked Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
Sophomore Erica Robertson also returns to the Commodore lineup this season after seeing limited competition due to injuries a year ago. A healthy Robertson could add another dimension to an already talented sophomore class, and it showed during the end of the 2009 fall season when she teamed with Steinbauer to go 9-2 in doubles. The second-year duo of Robertson and Steinbauer won titles at the Kentucky Invitational and ITA Ohio Valley Regional. Robertson and Steinbauer put themselves on the map when they went a perfect 5-0 at the Ohio Valley Regional to clinch a spot at the ITA National Indoor Doubles Championship.
The Commodores have also enjoyed the addition of Megan Gornet to the team this fall after earning a spot on the team last spring. Gornet, a native of St. Louis, Mo., went 3-8 in singles and 2-5 in doubles during the fall season.
“The difference between where the sophomores (Erica, Jackie, Heather, Chelsea and Megan) are now from where they were a year ago is truly remarkable,” Macdonald said. “They are much more mature and they have a year of experience in playing in the SEC. I thought they all had good first years and I look for them to really standout this season.”
The ‘Dores first round exit at the NCAA Tournament last season was its earliest exit in the tournament since coach Macdonald’s first season at Vanderbilt (1995). With the strong ingredients of great coaching and returning experience from last season, the ‘Dores will look to make a long run in the NCAA Tournament in 2010.
“We have the potential to be a top-10 team this season and I think we are good enough to get to the quarterfinals and play for a final four. This team has a lot of potential but there are a lot of good teams that we will play so it’s important that we work extremely hard on conditioning and get off to a strong start.”
