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Women’s Tennis Wins Three Championships at Furman 9/29/2003 Falk & Menees each earn two titles; Commodores open fall season in impressive fashion Greenville, S.C. — The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team put together an impressive performance this past weekend at the Furman Fall Classic in Greenville, S.C. Commodore juniors Audra Falk and Annie Menees each captured singles championships in their respective flights Sunday, one day after teaming up to win the main draw doubles championship. In total, Vanderbilt brings three championships and three second-place finishes back to the Music City. The Commodores combined to post a 19-8 overall record at the tournament, including a 14-4 mark in singles. Three Commodores earned second place finishes in their respective flights. Senior Kelly Schmandt advanced to the finals of Flight One along with Falk, guaranteeing Vanderbilt a one-two finish in the tournament’s top draw. Falk defeated Schmandt (6-3, 6-1) to earn the singles crown. In Flight Two, sophomore Ashley Schellhas took second place honors to Middle Tennessee’s Jennifer Klaschka. Schellhas was forced to retire from the championship match due to injury. The Flight Three championship was won by Menees in straight sets (6-2, 6-1) over South Carolina’s Miranda Gutierrez. Freshman Amanda Fish took second place in Flight Four, dropping a grueling three-set match to North Carolina’s Sara Anundsen (5-7, 6-4, 6-2). In doubles action on Saturday, Falk and Menees joined forces to defeat Julie Coin and Maria Brito of Clemson (8-3), ranked 29th in the nation in the ITA’s pre-season poll, for the Flight One championship. Schellhas and senior Aleke Tsoubanos took fourth place in the same draw after falling to UNC’s duo of Lee Bairos and Jenna Long. Falk, ranked No. 91 in the country, did not drop a set en route to her title. She defeated Mary Neill Hagood of host Furman (6-2, 6-3) and Caitlin Collins of UNC (6-4, 6-1) before overcoming teammate Schmandt in the final. The 58th-ranked Schmandt advanced to Sunday’s final after victories over Penn State’s Megan Marton (6-0, 6-1) and Clemson’s Julie Coin (retired). In Flight Two, No. 85 Schellhas defeated UNC’s Lee Bairos (6-2, 6-1) and Clemson’s Maria Brito (6-4, 3-6, 7-65) to reach the championship match. She was forced to retire against Klaschka in the finals. Flight Three saw Menees sweep three matches without losing a set. She defeated MTSU’s Carien Venter (6-1, 6-2), North Carolina’s Jenna Long (6-3, 6-4) and Gutierrez to earn her second title of the weekend. Freshman Amanda Fish won her first two singles matches in the Black & Gold, defeating Sasha Abraham of Penn State (6-1, 6-2) and Ioana Paun of Clemson (6-0, 6-3) before falling in the Flight Four championship to Anundsen. Freshman Helene Stephens dropped her first match to South Carolina’s Fallo Koon (6-4, 7-62), but came back to defeat Penn State’s Lindsay Downing (6-1, 6-2) and MTSU’s Emily Vest (6-1, 6-1) to earn fifth place in her flight. In the top doubles draw, the team of Falk and Menees defeated USC’s Wiggins and Ganzer (8-3) and UNC’s Bairos and Long (8-5) before taking out Coin and Brito in the finals. Schellhas and Tsoubanos defeated Kruse and Klaschka of MTSU (9-86) before dropping a pair of matches to take fourth place in the flight. In Flight Two, Commodores Schmandt and Fish teamed up to go 1-2 and take sixth place. The duo lost to Rombouts and LeSaldo of Clemson (8-6), before coming back to defeat Merryman and Abraham of Penn State (8-5). In their final match, they were defeated by Collins and Anundsen of UNC (8-5). Vanderbilt continues its fall season at the ITA All-American, to be played Oct. 9-12. Vanderbilt will host the annual June Stewart Fall Invitational on Oct. 24-26 at the Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center. — VU — |
