No. 20 Ole Miss Women’s Tennis Tops Missouri

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No. 20 Ole Miss Women’s Tennis Tops Missouri

The No. 20 ranked Ole Miss women’s tennis team dropped a tight doubles point, but rallied to win four singles matches for a 4-1 win against Missouri Sunday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
Ole Miss struck first in the doubles as Zalina Khairudinova and Tea Jandric won 6-2 on court three. Missouri beat Arianne Hartono and Anna Vrbenska 6-3 on court one. Natalie Suk and Alexa Bortles survived an early break at two to get back on serve, but serving 5-6 they were broken, as Missouri clinched the point.
The Rebels rebounded nicely in singles, winning the first set at one, two, three and six. Vrbenska closed out Amina Ismail 6-2, 6-0 on court four to put the Rebels on the board and tie the match at 1.
Hartono downed Bea Machado Santos 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1 singles to put the Rebels ahead for good, 2-1. Bortles followed seconds later with a 6-2, 6-0 win against Mackenzy Middlebrooks on court six, as the Rebels led 3-1.
Down a set at three and five, Suk made sure neither would be necessary, rallying to win the second set against Missouri’s Cassidy Spearman and the match 6-3, 7-5 to clinch the victory. After winning the first set, Suk trailed 1-4 in the second, before taking three straight games to tie it. The two traded breaks for 5-5 and then Suk won a huge deciding point on her serve to hold for 6-5. She broke Spearman for the clinch.
At the net…
• The Rebels snapped a three-match losing streak and are now 11-5 on the year, 2-3 in the SEC
• Ole Miss improved to 4-1 all-time against Missouri
• Arianne Hartono snapped a three-match losing streak and picked up her first SEC win of the year
• Freshman Anna Vrbenska improved to 14-7 overall, 9-4 in dual matches, 4-1
• Zalina Khairudinova and Tea Jandric improved to 9-1 at No. 3 doubles
Complete results
Doubles
1. Machado/Santos (MIZ) def. #33 Hartono/Vrbenska (OM) 6-3
2. Spearman/Schroeder (MIZ) def. Suk/Bortles (OM) 7-5
3. Khairudinova/Jandric (OM) def. Middlebrook/Raley (MIZ) 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. #47 Arianne Hartono (OM) def. Bea Machado Santos (MIZ) 6-3, 6-1
2. Natalie Suk (OM) def. Cassidy Spearman (MIZ) 6-3, 7-5
3. Zalina Khairudinova (OM) vs. Tate Schroeder (MIZ) 4-6, 3-5, sus.
4. Anna Vrbenska (OM) def. Amina Ismail (MIZ) 6-2, 6-0
5. Tea Jandric (OM) vs. Mackenzy Middlebrooks (MIZ) 4-6, 5-2, sus.
6. Alexa Bortles (OM) def. Mackenzy Middlebrooks (MIZ) 6-2, 6-0
Order of Finish: 4, 1, 6, 2
Thoughts from head coach Mark Beyers…
“We are proud of the girls for bouncing back after losing the match on Friday and with the way the doubles point ended against Arkansas, then losing the doubles point again today. To fight back and get four first sets and take three of those matches pretty quickly and then Nat pulling out a 7-5 second set, that was big.”
On getting a split this weekend…
“Everybody is good, so there is never an easy match. It’s good to know that we can lose the doubles point and still win four singles matches. Solid end to the weekend. We would have liked to get both, but we’ll take a split heading into Georgia and Tennessee.”
Up next…
The Rebels will hit the road next weekend traveling to face No. 6 Georgia and No. 19 Tennessee.
For more information on Ole Miss Women’s Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWTennis, on Facebook at OleMissWTennis and on Instagram at OleMissWTennis. Also follow Coach Beyers on Twitter, @MarkBeyers.
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

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No. 22 Ole Miss Comes Up Short, 3-1, to No. 7 Texas A&M

No. 22 Ole Miss softball kept the series finale close in a low-scoring affair, but No. 7 Texas A&M prevailed, winning 3-1 Sunday afternoon.
The Rebels (21-6, 0-3 SEC) mustered just three hits, scoring the lone run in the sixth inning, while the Aggies’ (25-2, 5-1 SEC) starter Lexi Smith issued five walks but struck out 14. For Ole Miss, four different pitchers were inserted in the circle surrendering just two earned runs.
Offensively, Texas A&M was only able to score one run at a time in the first two frames and the fourth, while Ole Miss tacked on its lone run in the sixth. Brittany Finney drove in Miranda Strother scoring the Rebels’ only run, while Kylan Becker and Paige McKinney also had a hit each. The Rebels did draw five walks off Smith, as Ashton Lampton finished with two, and Strother, McKinney and Syrett all had one each.
Elisha Jahnke earned her first start of the season and worked just two thirds of an inning after she issued a leadoff walk, then walked another after Syrett cut down the initial hitter trying to steal. An error then put two on, before a passed ball moved them both up into scoring position. Riley Sartain then lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center putting the Aggies in front 1-0. After another walk and wild pitch, Morgan Bruce entered in relief and worked a grounder to end the frame.
The Rebels had a chance to respond in the first when Strother was hit by a pitch then stole second, and Lampton reached on a walk, but a strikeout ended any threat keeping the score 1-0 in favor of Texas A&M.
The Aggies got a two out rally going in the second after back-to-back singles, then a walk loaded the bases. Bruce issued another bases-loaded walk to plate the second run, before she worked out of the jam again with a flyout to right.
McKinney reached on a two out single through the left side in the second, and Syrett made solid contact with a hard fly ball to left, but it was caught at the warning track keeping the Rebels off the board.
In their next chance at the plate, the Aggies posted two-straight one out singles, but a fielders’ choice, groundout back to Bruce in the circle stranded two more runners, as A&M left eight on base through the first three innings.
Texas A&M added its third run in the fourth off a double off the wall in right-center, before Alyssa Clayton took over and worked three-straight outs escaping another jam.
Ole Miss’ two biggest chances of the afternoon came in the final two frames, including the sixth when Strother and Lampton both reached via walk, before Finney ripped a pinch-hit single through the right side scoring Strother to cut the advantage to 3-1.
The Rebels had one final chance in the seventh after McKinney drew a leadoff walk, and Becker reached via an infield single, but A&M’s Trinity Harrington – the Friday night starter – closed the door.
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

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