Belated pomp and circumstance

by Barca Blog

Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos held a special graduation ceremony on Monday for Commodore student-athletes that missed the official commencement due to sporting events last weekend.

Ten student-athletes from baseball, men's and women's tennis, and track were honored for their academic accomplishments in front of family, friends, teammates, coaches, and staff inside the Student Life Center.

Here are two pictures from the event:

Women's Tennis Graduates: Hannah Blatt and Catherine Newman with head coach Geoff Macdonald


Baseball Graduates: Andrew Giobbi, Drew Hayes, Richie Goodenow, Mark Lamm, Jordan Wormsley, Russell Brewer, and Alex Levitt with head coach Tim Corbin.

Video: Women's Tennis vs. UT at NCAAs

By Travis Young

I grabbed some video of the introduction of the starting lineups today at NCAA Regionals in Knoxville. The Commodores (14-9) currently trail the Lady Vols (17-8) 1-0 after dropping the doubles point.

Click here for live scoring of the match

Women's Tennis at NCAA Tournament

By Travis Young -

The 28th-ranked Vanderbilt women's tennis team is 15 minutes away from its first-round match with Indiana in Knoxville.

The Commodores (13-9, 7-4 SEC) are making their 16th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance while Indiana is making their 27th NCAA appearance under head coach Lin Loring.

The 'Dores attended an NCAA Regional banquet last night hosted by regional host, Tennessee and the NCAA.

See the short video clip below.

Click here for live in-game scoring of today's match

NCAA Tennis Selection Show Later Today

By Travis Young -

The Vanderbilt men's and women's tennis programs will learn their NCAA Tournament fate Tuesday afternoon when the NCAA announces the "Field of 64" from 4- 5 p.m. CT on ESPNews.

The women's team is awaiting their 16th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance while the men will be making their ninth overall trip to the prestigious tournament. It will mark the third time in the past four years that both team's will be playing in the NCAA Tournament during the same year.

Be sure to set your television to ESPNews at 4 p.m. Tuesday, to see where both Vanderbilt programs will be headed to in the first round.

The women's team, ranked 28th-nationally with a 13-9 record, is projected to be a No. 2 seed while the men, ranked 38th-nationally with a 13-10 record, are likely to be a No. 3 seed.

The first and second rounds of both the men's and women's tournament will be played May 14-16.

Commodore Conversation- Rachael Dillon on St. Patty’s Day

By Travis Young

With St. Patrick’s Day in full swing today, I caught up with Vanderbilt women’s tennis player and Dublin, Ireland, native Rachael Dillon to see how the holiday is celebrated in her home country.

Dillon and the 17th-ranked Commodores will host No. 4 Notre Dame at the Currey Tennis Center on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

Click the video below to watch.

Commodore Conversation with Jackie Wu

by Barca Blog

Commodore Conversation is a new weekly series on VUcommodores.com. In the second episode, host Christina Lipscombe interviews Vanderbilt women's tennis sophomore Jackie Wu.

Watch below to learn more about Jackie off the court:

Know Your Commodore - Rachael Dillon

How well do Keilly Ulery and Jackie Wu know their tennis teammate Rachael Dillon?

Find out in the latest Know Your Commodore segment below.

Dillon, who hails from Dublin, Ireland, transferred from California following her sophomore season.

SEC Women's Tennis Update

By Travis Young -- The No. 19 Vanderbilt women's tennis team is currently in action at the 2009 SEC Women's Tennis Tournament in Fayetteville, Ark. The Commodores currently trail No. 15 Florida 1-0 after dropping the doubles point to the Gators.

The fifth-seeded 'Dores advanced to Friday's quarterfinal round by knocking off 12th seeded Mississippi State 4-0 in yesterday's first round. The Commodores will have to win four of the six singles matches to advance to Saturday's semifinals . The winner of today's match will face No. 1 seeded Georgia, who clinched a spot in the semi-finals with a 4-1 win over eighth-seeded Alabama earlier this morning.

The tournament is a little behind schedule due to windy conditions at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center, forcing the matches to be played inside the Dills Indoor Tennis Center.

Here are the updated doubles matches

Doubles Results
1. No. 43 Boonstra / Mather (UF) def. No. 38 Steinbauer / Wu (VU) 8-4
2. No. 29 Alexander / Revzina (UF) def. Newman / Preeg (VU) 8-5
3. Ulery, C. / Ulery, K. (VU) def. Allen / Wolken (UF) 8-1

order of finish: 3, 2, 1*

Ditty helps USA to victory

Remember Julie Ditty, the star of our 2001 tennis team that played Stanford for the NCAA Championship? The All-American has been on the professional tour since her graduation and currently she is a member of the coveted USA Fed Cup team. Last week she scored the match point in Uncle Sam's victory over Argentina in the Fed Cup quarterfinals. USA advances to the semi-finals to face the Czech Republic. Click here to read the United States Tennis Association article.

The number of former Commodore student-athletes enjoying success over a wide spectrum of professional athletics -- Major League Baseball, PGA, WPGA, NFL, WNBA and the ATP -- continues to grow each year.

More Australian Open Results

Here's another photo from the Australian Open in Melbourne... sent in by a Vanderbilt fan.

Former Commodore Julie Ditty (pictured) participated in the doubles portion of the Grand Slam tennis event. Ditty and partner Carly Gullickson dropped their first round match to the No. 14 pair of Sorana Cirstea and Monica Niculescu, 3-6, 6-2, 3-6.

Bobby Reynolds, another former Vanderbilt star, and teammate Rajeev Ram advanced to the third round of the tournament before falling to the second-ranked brothers tandem of Bob and Mike Bryan, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6.