Nov. 5, 2008
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team will put the finishing touches on its fall season this weekend as it travels south to the SEC Fall Coaches Classic. This year’s Fall Coaches Classic will be hosted by Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The tournament will begin Thursday with doubles play beginning at 4 p.m. The tournament will continue through the weekend with it scheduled to conclude after singles on Sunday.
“We are looking forward to getting a lot of match play experience this weekend,” head coach Geoff Macdonald said. “Our team has been working hard in practice on improving the areas that we needed too. This tournament is such a strong tournament that it will be a great opportunity for our team. We want to close the fall season out on a strong note this weekend as we head into conditioning and preparing for the spring.”
Through the first five fall tournaments, the Commodores have showed their great depth and versatility. Junior Catherine Newman and freshman Jackie Wu enter this weekend with records of 11-5 and 11-2, respectively. Newman has already defeated four players ranked in the ITA preseason top-100 and has won six of her last decisions, while Wu is coming off a straight set win over North Carolina’s No. 23 Katrina Tsang.
Keilly Ulery heads into this weekend’s competition winning five of her last six singles matches. The younger Ulery has already posted three wins over nationally ranked foes, including a straight set win over No. 37 Caitlin Whoriskey of Tennessee at the Furman Classic in September.
Courtney Ulery, the team’s lone senior, could pick up her 80th career singles this weekend in Tuscaloosa, as she owns 79 career victories.
Freshman Chelsea Preeg looks to become the third Vanderbilt player to reach double digits in singles win this fall as she enter this weekend with an 8-2 mark. The Naples, Fla., native captured the Tom Black Draw title last month at the June Stewart Invitational after knocking off No. 55 Megan Broderick of Kentucky in three sets.
“I think overall we have had a real solid fall season,” Macdonald said. “It’s a big adjustment from high school to college so as a team I am pleased with where we are right now.”
Results and a recap from each day’s events will be posted on vucommodores.com following competition.
SEC Fall Coaches Classic Schedule
Thursday, November 6
Two round of doubles
Friday, November 7
Two rounds of singles
Saturday, November 8
Two round of doubles
One round of singles
Sunday, November 9
One round of singles
