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1/6/2006 NASHVILLE, Tenn. – All eyes will be on the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team this season as they plough through a challenging non-conference schedule that includes three teams ranked in the ITA’s 2005 top fifteen. With the graduation the Commodore’s No. 1 singles player, Audra Falk, the team’s primary leader will be the team’s only junior, Amanda Fish. Fish held down a 22-4 record at the second and third slots in 2005. “Amanda emerged as one of the best players in the country. She’s a very talented, explosive player and plays a big game,” VU Head Coach Geoff Macdonald said. Next in the line-up will most likely be SEC Freshman of the Year Taka Bertrand. Bertrand went 20-6 and 8-3 in the SEC at the No. 3 slot as a freshman and carried a 20-6 overall doubles record with partner Fish. Much of team’s success will be based on the improvement of sophomores Amanda Taylor (19-5) and Caroline Ferrell (16-9). During 2005 play Taylor stuck mostly to the No. 4 slot, while Ferrell carried No. 6. “It will be a year of a lot of teaching,” Macdonald said. “I think we have to be very patient but at the same time push every player to develop quickly. Our sophomores are basically functioning as juniors. Hopefully by March they’ll have come along way.” The final pieces of the Commodore season will be put in place by the three freshmen, Maggie Yahner, Courntey Ulery, and Liberty Sveke. Yahner, a Nevada native, ranked 7th nationally in the USTA Girls 18s when she was recruited by the Commodores. In 2004 Yahner took the title at the USTA Girls’ National Open Tour and was voted third in the nation on the USTA National Junior rankings. “[Yahner] was a widely recruited player. She’s come a long way and has the physical skills to become an All-American. She’s a really good competitor with tough, raw talent,” Macdonald said. Ulery and Sveke, both natives of Florida, also climbed the rankings during high school. In 2003 Sveke was fourth in the nation in the USTA G16s and in 2004 Ulery placed 21st in the USTA National Junior rankings. The team will begin spring match play on Friday, January 13 against Montana State at the newly renovated Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center on the Vanderbilt campus. |
