Oct. 23, 2016
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s tennis team will represent the university in both the singles and doubles ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships Monday in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Undefeated, Sydney Campbell is one of two student-athletes left in the singles draw, while Astra Sharma and Emma Kurtz will compete in tomorrow’s doubles final.
VU began singles play going 2-2 in regional quarterfinals as Campbell and Emma Kurtz picked up wins, while Fernanda Contreras and Christina Rosca suffered straight set losses from Kentucky Wildcats.
Top-seeded Campbell eased by East Tennessee’s ninth-seeded Marina Espana, 6-1, 6-1 to place herself in tournament semifinals for the third straight year. A native of Atlanta, Kurtz downed Tennessee senior Eve Repic in three sets, fighting back from a 6-4 first set loss to advance 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
With both Commodores advancing, an all-Vanderbilt semifinal was on slate in Middle Tennessee.
Having played three days in a row, fatigue was the last thing on either competitors mind’s as a thrilling three set match determined which ‘Dore would be play for a spot in the ITA’s National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship.
Kurtz pulled out the highly competitive first set, 7-5, but the remainder of the match was Campbell’s as the Franklin, Tenn. native took the victory 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 and improves to 3-0 in regional semis.
Campbell will face UK’s second-seeded Aidila Sutjiadi tomorrow at 9:30 in tournament championships.
In doubles play, half of the regional semifinal field was comprised of Commodores. However, VU went 1-1 as Campbell and Rosca fell to Kentucky’s Mikulakyte/Jacobs 6-1, 7-5.
Tomorrow at 9:30 Sharma and Kurtz will be vying for their first tournament championship as a duo. The redshirt-junior / freshman pairing was successful on Sunday, downing Indiana’s Appel/Schmidier 6-2 in the first set. Sharma and Kurtz, the No. 2 seed in the doubles draw, pulled off a second set tiebreaker to clinch their place in the finals, 7-6(4).
UK’s Mikulakyte/Jacobs wait ahead in the championship matchup.
The regional singles and doubles champions will join Sharma in New York in the ITA’s third national championship of the season, the National Indoor Intercollegaite Championships. All regional matches are held at the Adams Tennis Complex and admission is free. For more information, visit the 2016 ITA Regionals homepage.
