No. 27 Frogs Start 2010 Season Against No. 21 Vanderbilt
1/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 28, 2010
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 27 TCU women's tennis team will begin the 2010 season at 9 a.m. Friday against No. 21 Vanderbilt as part of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Tennessee Indoor Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tenn. TCU selected to take part in the Tennessee regional as the No. 3 seed, along with No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 4 Texas.
TCU returns six players from last year's squad, led by senior captain and 2009 ITA Singles All-American senior Nina Munch-Soegaard. Rounding out the list of returners are juniors Maria Babanova, Idunn Hertzberg and Katariina Tuohimaa, followed by sophomores Kayla Duncan and Gaby Mastromarino. The Horned Frogs also have a new addition ready to contribute in sophomore Shalini Sahoo. Duncan will begin the season ranked No. 67 in the Campbell's/ITA National Singles rankings, while Duncan and Tuohimaa also appear in the doubles list at No. 59.
The Commodores are off to a quick 2-0 start on the season with a pair of 6-1 road decisions at No. 49 Denver and No. 60 Colorado. VU has four singles players listed in the initial Campbell's/ITA National Singles rankings with No. 29 Jackie Wu, No. 31 Catherine Newman, No. 32 Chelsea Preeg and No. 97 Heather Steinbauer. Vanderbilt also boasts a pair of ranked doubles teams in No. 25 Steinbauer and Erica Robertson and No. 40 Preeg and Wu.
The Frogs currently hold a 2-1 advantage over Vanderbilt in the all-time series. After VU dismissed TCU in the 1996 NCAA Regionals at College Station, the Frogs rebounded to earn wins in 2006 and 2007. Including Friday's matchup, all four meetings between the two programs have been played on neutral ground.
The ITA Kick-Off Weekend features 15 host sites with four teams at each site vying to advance to the Team Indoor Championships. The 15 schools that win both of their matches at these events will be invited to play in the Feb. 12-15 ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium and hosted by the Univ. of Wisconsin.
Players Mentioned
