Aleke Tsoubanos and Sarah Riske

A look at spring athletics at spring A look On the Double SportsSarah Riske and Aleke Tsoubanos Set ’Em Up and Knock ’Em Down. By NELSON BRYAN

hen opposing volley game with good ground strokes. No.1 doubles duo went into the champi- players stare across Tsoubanos has excellent hands and antici- onship tournament as the team to beat. the net at Sarah pation at the net.“It’s sort of like a setter and No one did. Riske and Aleke a spiker in volleyball,”Macdonald says. “Sarah and I worked together a lot last Tsoubanos, they “We’ll set up some plays together,”Riske fall,”says Tsoubanos.“We did a lot of indi- would be well says,“but for the most part we let each other vidual work with the coaches and just went advised to remember their Shakespeare — do what we do best. We really trust each other out there and did the best we could. It just so WMacbeth in particular: “Double, double toil in that. We know each other’s strengths and happens that we played four really good match- and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” weaknesses. Aleke has faster hands than I do, es and everything clicked. It was nice. I think Because in this Vanderbilt duo, women’s ten- quicker hands at the net. She puts the point a lot of people were speculating as to whether nis coach Geoff Macdonald has cooked up a away more. I more or less play straight up we were going to hold to the honor that they fiery mixture of power and speed. and make the other team play another ball. gave us in the preranking, and we did that.” Macdonald paired Tsoubanos and Riske Aleke will lob, she’ll drop shot, more touch. At the beginning of the spring 2003 sea- three years ago, when Kate Burson and Julie She does well off my serve. She moves across son, Vanderbilt beat top-ranked Florida in a Ditty were setting Vanderbilt records in dou- the court; she poaches very well.” dual match, 4-3. Riske won at the No. 1 sin- bles and singles competition. Early on, he “Sarah has a really big serve,”Tsoubanos gles spot, and Tsoubanos won at No. 3 sin- noticed a potent alchemy in the testifies.“She’s like the meat and gles. Together they won the No. 1 doubles combination of Riske’s and potatoes out there. She just 9-7. It was the first time in 23 years the Van- Tsoubanos’s styles of play. plays straight up. She’s derbilt women defeated the storied Florida “They seemed to be very solid from the program. clicking,”Macdonald baseline with solid “It was definitely special,”Riske says of the says of the early pair- volleys. I feel like victory over Florida. “It was one of the high ing.“They had a lot of sometimes Sarah points of my college career. When I came in chemistry, and their does a lot of the as a freshman, the seniors always said, ‘Let’s strengths comple- grunt work, where- beat Florida; we’ve never beaten them before,’ mented each other. as she frees me up and it’s been that way every year, with some Sarah and Aleke matched at the net to be more matches better than others. Last year we had up well. Aleke came in as proactive and creative two close ones with them, but we’ve always an outstanding doubles play- with volleys. She sets me come up short. That was such a big deal to er, and Sarah was an accom- up a lot. I have no com- us. It was so cool to see everyone come through.

plished singles player.” NEIL BRAKE plaints about that. I’ll let Sarah It felt like we were in the nationals. Everyone Riske is a senior psychology major from do that all day.” just fought so hard.” Pittsburgh. She is tall and composed. Tsoubanos Last fall Riske and Tsoubanos brought “I think we’ve gotten better,”Tsoubanos is a junior human and organizational devel- home a national title when they won the Riv- says matter-of-factly. “At the end of the sea- opment major from Chesterfield, Mo. She is iera/ITA Women’s All-American Champi- son, the NCAA individuals and doubles tour- strong and quick. Riske has a strong serve and onships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Vandy’s nament could be really exciting for us.”

18 Spring 2003 DAVID JOHNSON S PORTS

Fred Russell and In Memory of Fred Russell Grantland Rice Freddie, one cup together, Fred Russell, L’27, sportswriter extraordi- And here is the final test. naire, died at his home Jan. 26 after a brief Through stormy or sunny weather, Through breaks at their worst or best, {Sports Roundup} illness. [See obituary on page 77 for more Untouched by the staining dollar, details.] He counted among his acquaintances Tennis: Men Win Basketball: Anderson Sets Track: Hahn Sets On through to the journey’s end, the finest sportswriters, coaches and athletes First SEC Title Scoring Record in Season Finale Pentathlon School Record A gentleman, sir—and a scholar, of their time. In 1953 legendary sports writer The eighth-ranked Vanderbilt men’s tennis team Senior center Chantelle Anderson set a new Josie Hahn, a sophomore from Clinton,Tenn., But better than all—a friend. and Vanderbilt alumnus Grantland Rice, BA won its first-ever Vanderbilt women’s basketball scoring record in established a Vanderbilt pentathlon record and 1901, wrote a tribute to his friend and fellow Tournament championship, defeating No. 2- the Commodores’ last game of the season, an finished fourth overall Commodore. Fifty years after it was penned, Quarles, Yoder Win ranked Florida April 20 in Oxford, Miss. Sec- 86–85 overtime loss to Boston College in the during the opening day the poem yet pays homage to Fred McFerrin World Championship ond-ranked Bobby Reynolds scored a 7-6, 6-3 second round of the NCAA Tournament. She of the Southeastern Russell and the days of yore. Former Commodores , BS’94, (2) victory over 18th-ranked Hamid Mirzadeh surpassed by one point the record of 2,602 Conference Indoor Track and , BS’00, became world cham- at the No. 1 position. Reynolds, a junior, was points set by former All-American center Wendy and Field Champi- “To Fred Russell” pions when the won later named SEC Player of the Year, and Com- Scholtens. onships in March. Her By Grantland Rice XXXVII in January. At Vander- modore coach Ken Flach was named Coach of The team finished the season with a 22–10 3,892-point total is the the Year. Last year the team finished the SEC overall record, 9–5 in SEC play and ranked highest ever by a Van- Sept. 2, 1953 COURTESY OF FRED RUSSELL COLLECTION, VANDERBILT SPECIAL COLLECTIONS bilt they never won a championship. But after regular season with a 1-10 record and a first- 15th in the nation by the Associated Press. Hahn derbilt women’s track Tampa Bay’s victory over the Oakland Raiders, Freddie, the south wind’s calling For all that I’ll miss in grieving round exit at the SEC Tournament, making this athlete, easily surpassing her own mark of 3,598 they joined their former teammate, Corey From far and far away Where Charon’s boat may land, season a worst-to-first achievement within the Basketball: Freije Named points. She set career bests in the high jump and Harris, BS’92, and coach, Woody Widenhofer, I see the twilight falling Is the smile from a pal I’m leaving, conference. Second Team All-SEC long jump and matched her previous record in in the fraternity of own- On hills of yesterday. And the friendly grip of a hand. Junior forward Matt Freije has been named the shot put during the performance. ers. Harris earned a ring with the Baltimore I find an old, old yearning Cross Country: Brogan Second Team All-SEC by a vote of the league’s For twenty-five years or longer, Ravens in 2001. Widenhofer garnered four And when I turn to you, Named Marshall Scholar basketball coaches. He was a member of the Golf: Snedeker No. 1 Where time plays a leading part, rings with the . I meet old pals returning David Brogan, a Vanderbilt biomedical engineer- SEC All-Freshman Team two years ago and in Golfstat Rankings I’ve found the link grows stronger, Quarles, a starting inside linebacker, was ing senior who combines his studies with cross- To find a dream come true. earned Third Team All-SEC honors after his Vanderbilt golfer Brandt Snedeker claimed the In the beating of heart and heart. one of Tampa Bay’s top defenders in the Super country competition and sophomore season. top spot in early spring Golfstat rankings with a Freddie, through joy and sorrow, I’ve found the friendship dearer Bowl game, making seven tackles. Yoder joined community involvement, Freije, who scored at least 20 points in eight 69.45 stroke average in 20 rounds.The rankings Where my fading footsteps fare, As the endless years roll by, the Buccaneers in 2000 as an undrafted tight has been chosen to of the final 12 games, finished the regular sea- came on the heels of Snedeker’s climb to No. 1 Where will I be tomorrow? And, as night draws nearer, end and was active on all Tampa Bay spe- receive a prestigious son as the Commodores’ leading scorer with in the nation in the Golfweek/Sagarin Poll. I neither know nor care. We wait for the light to die. cial teams. Marshall Scholarship. 17.9 points per game, and he finished second on In Vanderbilt’s first event of the spring, the He is one of 40 U.S. the team in rebounds with 4.3 rebounds per senior from Nashville finished in second place students selected this contest. He ranked among the SEC’s best in and just one shot out of the top spot at the Gator Ann Hutcheson, BA’71, MD’78, and Nancy Bargo, year to participate in scoring, field-goal percentage, free-throw per- Invitational in Gainesville, Fla., and was named {Where AreThey Now?} BA’72, brought Vanderbilt women’s tennis into national prominence the program. centage, three-point percentage, and three- SEC Golfer of the Week. Brogan before Title IX elevated the status of women’s collegiate sports. In Brogan plans to use point field goals made. On the strength of three first-place finishes, 1970 the doubles partners reigned as Tennessee intercollegiate cham- his scholarship to pursue a master of philosophy In the Vanderbilt record book, Freije is Snedeker was atop the SEC rankings since the pions and represented Vanderbilt in the National Intercollegiate at either Kings College of London or Oxford ranked 21st in career scoring (1,247), ninth in beginning of the fall season. In measuring stroke Championship in Las Cruces, N.M., for two years. Today Ann Hutche- University. He hopes to become a physician and career three-point field-goal attempts (326), averages from team tournaments, he had more son Price, former chief medical officer at Nashville’s St.Thomas to explore combining medical imaging tech- 10th in three-pointers made (118), and is only than a two-stroke lead over the SEC’s second- Hospital, is taking a hiatus from medicine and tennis to nurse an niques with surgical practice to develop innova- one block away from reaching the school’s top place golfer with his mark of 69.06 in 17 rounds. injury. She and her husband, Scott Todd Price, BA’71, have two chil- tive methods of treatment. 10 with 49 career blocks. Snedeker is one of 21 collegiate men’s dren. Their son, a wheelchair athlete, graduates from Lipscomb Uni- golfers who has been named to the watch list for versity this year, and their daughter is entering Princeton University the 2003 Ben Hogan Award.The Ben Hogan to play tennis. Nancy Bargo is now Nancy Bargo Anthony, executive Award is presented annually to the top men’s director of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. She earned two NCAA Division I, II or III or NAIA golfer. master’s degrees from Yale and a doctorate from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences

BANNER Center. She and her husband, Robert, have four daughters, all athletes who play field hockey collegiately at Princeton,Yale Vanderbilt Crew and Duke. Thinking back on team training on their days at Vanderbilt, Anthony remarks,“It was fun to be on the Percy Priest Lake Hutcheson and bottom floor of emerging women’s athletics prior to Title IX.” OWEN CARTWRIGHT FOR THE NASHVILLE Bargo in 1970 PHOTOGRAPHS BY NEIL BRAKE

20 Spring 2003 V anderbilt Magazine 21