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Ole Miss Women's Tennis Player Arianne Hartono Competes for a National Championship
Ole Miss women’s tennis senior Arianne Hartono will battle for the NCAA Championship match Monday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex. First serve is set for 11 a.m.
“There were a couple of breaks where I sat down and my coach told me to just enjoy it,” Hartono said. “It is my senior year and this is my final tournament as an Ole Miss Rebel. He told me to have fun and enjoy this opportunity. That is what turned it around for me when I relaxed and had fun.”
Hartono will face Pepperdine’s Ashley Lahey in their debut match. Lahey defeated Vanderbilt’s Fernanda Contreras in straight sets to reach the title match.
Hartono proved herself as a championship contender in matches leading up to the final game. In the semi-finals, Pepperdine’s Mayar Sherif took the early momentum taking the first set 6-2 and served for the match twice in the second set garnering match points at 5-4, but Hartono rallied to force a tiebreaker winning 7-6(5) to force a third set. Sherif jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third set, but Hartono came back to force another tiebreaker and win it 7-6(2) to complete the history-making match.
With her win, Hartono became the first player in Ole Miss program history to reach the championship match in singles.
“This is unreal! Coming from Ole Miss, this is such a great opportunity for our program,” Hartono said. “Making it this far is incredible.”
Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.