Women To Face Vanderbilt In Opening Match Of NCAA Tourney
April 30, 2003 | Women's Tennis
The Terrier women's tennis team, winners of its tenth straight America East Tournament title, will be traveling to Nashville, TN to meet host Vanderbilt University next Friday (May 9th) in the first round of the NCAA Division 1 Women's Tennis Tournament.
The Terrier-Lady Commodore match will be the second half of the bracket as the University of Missouri and Notre Dame will start the competition at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time. The B.U. vs. Vanderbilt match is scheduled to get underway at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. The two winners will meet on Saturday (May 10th) for the right to advance to the field of 16. That match will not begin until at least 4:00 p.m. The reason is that Vanderbilt is also hosting the first round of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Tournament, and that action will begin on Saturday morning (May 10th).
In all, 64 teams received invitations to the women's tournament, 31 of which received an automatic bid. By virtue of their winning the conference tournament, the Terriers received one of the automatic bids, while Vanderbilt received an at-large invitation. This is the fifth straight year the Terriers will be playing in the NCAAs. The streak began in 1999 when they traveled to Pepperdine University. They returned to California the next two years as they played at UCLA in 2000 and Stanford in 2001. Last year, the team stayed on the East Coast where it played at the University of Kentucky.
The Terriers will take a 10-11 record into the match. During the fall season, they were 2-1 with wins over New Hampshire and the University of Connecticut and a loss to Yale. Then, in the spring, the team finished with an 8-10 record. Six of losses came on the Terriers' annual spring break trip where they lost to North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Florida, the University of Miami, Miami of Ohio and Florida Atlantic. Since returning to the northeast, the team is 5-3.
In the meantime, Vanderbilt is 18-5 overall and ranked 15th in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings. The Lady Commodores, who will be making their ninth straight appearance in the NCAAs, advanced to the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament where they lost to the eighth-ranked University of Tennessee. Vanderbilt finished the SEC tournament in fifth place.
"It's exciting to know that I will be returning to the NCAAs for the fourth straight year," said Terrier senior captain Alana Marcu (Leonia, NJ). "We have had a number of injuries this year. In fact, in two matches, we had just five players healthy. So, it is really rewarding to know that we were able to overcome injuries throughout the season and reach our goal of making the NCAAs.
"We had a tough match against Binghamton in the America East finals," continued Marcu.
The Terriers won 4-1 but they lost the doubles point and three of the four wins in singles went to three sets.
"We had to hang in there against them, and I think that kept us mentally tough," concluded Marcu. "I think right now everyone is at the top of their game."
While Marcu will be making her fourth trip to the NCAAs, it will be the inaugural appearance for both Laura Ahmes and Monica Shepherd.
"It's been a frustrating season with the injuries," said Shepherd, a freshman from Austin, TX. "But, going to the NCAAs takes away all those frustrations. I know that this will be B.U.'s fifth straight trip to the tournament, but this is our first trip and it's really exciting."
"I don't think you ever take this for granted," said Ahmes, a freshman from East Sarasota, FL. "I was thinking we might play at the University of Florida, which would have been like home for me, but I am really excited about playing at Vanderbilt."
