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3/31/2006 No. 11 Commodores Plaster No. 22 Vols 7-0 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 11 Commodores (17-3, 7-0) swept No. 22 Tennessee (9-8, 5-2) at the Currey Tennis Center in Nashville on Friday. “Tennessee always competes really well and we have the utmost respect for them. It’s always good when we can get any points on them,” VU Head Coach Geoff Macdonald explained. UT’s only victory of the night came in the doubles contest. After VU’s Maggie Yahner/Liberty Sveke pair downed UT’s Hayley Prendergast/ Samantha Orlin 8-1 at No. 3, Melissa Schaub/ Ghizela Shutte overcame a four-game deficit at No.1 to take the win over Commodores Amanda Fish/ Amanda Taylor (8-6). Taka Bertrand and Caroline Ferrell clinched the doubles point (8-6) on a service break to put the Commodores up 1-0 going into singles. The ‘Dores got a fierce start in the singles contests, with Taka Bertrand, Amanda Taylor, and Caroline Ferrell going 6-0 in the first set. Fish attributes some of the team’s added confidence to the Commodore win over No. 2 Notre Dame on Wednesday. “We had a really good win on Wednesday and we had two good road wins last week, which gave us a lot more confidence coming into today,” Amanda Fish said. Fish was the first to notch a singles win, holding UT’s Victoria Jones to one game (6-0, 6-1). Caroline Ferrell recovered from her 6-2, 6-1 loss against Notre Dame’s Kristina Stastny on Wednesday to clinch the Tennessee match for the Commodores at No. 5 (6-0, 7-5). “I really just wanted to start out strong and try and rebound from the tough loss yesterday. You have to just learn and grow from losses like that,” Ferrell said. Amanda Taylor and Taka Bertrand both faced challenges in their second singles set after shutting out UT opponents in the first. Taylor exchanged leads with Lady Vol Griffith and finally edged out the win in a 7-5 tiebreaker (6-0, 7-4(5)). UT’s Melissa Schaub trailed Bertrand by one game throughout the second set, until Bertrand took the win 7-5 (6-0, 7-5). At No. 4, Courtney Ulery and Samantha Orlin played the only third set of the night. Ulery took the win in a tiebreaker (5) in the first set, but Orlin swept the second. Throughout the contest Ulery looked to assistant coach Meike Babel, who remained at the No. 4 bench throughout the match, for confidence. “Meike did a great job coaching from the court. She really helped keep Courtney focused on what she needed to do tactily,” Macdonald said. Courtney notched the win in the final set 7-6(5), 0-6, 6-3, putting the ‘Dores up 7-0. Next up for the Commodores will be No. 25 Georgia at the Currey Tennis Center, beginning at high noon on Sunday, April 2. RESULTS |
