Women’s Tennis Holds on to Top 10 Ranking; Men’s Tennis Moves Up Two Spots 1/30/03
Both Squads Back in Action This Weekend In Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Despite losing its first dual match of the 2003 season last weekend against Duke, the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team held on to its No. 8 national ranking, which is administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). The Vanderbilt men’s team creeped up two spots in the ITA national poll, as it moved from No. 29 to No. 27. This was due to Notre Dame losing both of its dual matches and Arkansas falling to Northwestern last week.

The women’s team will be busy once again this weekend with two home dual matches. The Commodores will take on No. 58-ranked Iowa at 2:30 p.m. Friday, and follow that up with a 12 p.m. start against No. 56-ranked Tulsa on Sunday. Vanderbilt is coming off a split last weekend in Durham, N.C. The Commodores scored a 7-0 victory over No. 51-ranked Pennsylvania, but lost a heartbreaker to No. 4-ranked Duke, 4-3.

The Commodores join No. 2-ranked Florida and No. 3-ranked Georgia as the only women's teams in the Southeastern Conference ranked in the top 10. Tennessee and South Carolina both post top 20 rankings, as they stand at No. 11 and 19, respectively.

The men’s team is coming off a successful start to the 2003 season. The Commodores scored 7-0 dual-match victories over Tennessee-Martin and Tennessee-Chattanooga last weekend at the Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center. The Commodores return to action at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Charleston Southern, who plays out of the Big South Conference.

The Commodores, who received their highest ITA ranking ever this week, will soon be tested against two nationally-ranked teams. Following this weekend’s match with the Bucs, the Commodores will hit the road, February 8-9, to take on No. 32-ranked Arkansas and No. 49 Tulsa.

The Southeastern Conference is the only conference in the country to have all of its teams posting ITA rankings. The strength of the SEC is evident once again, as Arkansas has the lowest ranking of all 12 schools and it is still in the top 32. Georgia made the biggest drop of any SEC school, as it fell from No. 6 to 20 via its loss to Clemson.