The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lady Rebels Fall 5-4 in Women's Tennis
6/21/1999 | Women's Tennis
March 10, 1999
ATHENS, Ga. - The No. 9 nationally-ranked Ole Miss women's tennis team dropped a close match at No. 3 Georgia 5-4 on Wednesday. The Lady Rebels, who fell to 9-3 on the year and 2-1 in the SEC, won three out of six matches in singles but only one match in doubles play.
At No. 1 singles, Agnes Muzamel, ranked fourth in the nation for the Lady Rebels, defeated seventh-ranked Marissa Catlin 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. Muzamel improved to 16-6 overall and 7-2 at the No. 1 position.
Georgia's Vanessa Castellano downed Celeste Frey of Ole Miss 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 2 spot. In the No. 3 matchup, the Lady Rebels' Ivona Mihailova improved to 12-0 in dual matches this year by defeating Esther Knox 6-4, 6-7, 7-5.
At the fourth spot, Aarthi Venkatesan of Georgia downed Courtenay Chapman 6-2, 4-6, 6-0, and at the fifth position, Ole Miss' Mariana Eberle defeated Christa Grey 6-3, 6-2. Alesya Ignatieva fell to the Bulldogs' Kelly Baskin 6-4, 6-2 in the sixth spot.
With the match tied 3-3, the teams went into doubles play, where the eighth-ranked duo of Frey and Eberle fell to Catlin and Castellano, the top-ranked tandem in the country, 8-4 in No. 1 doubles. Muzamel and Chapman also dropped their match to Knox and Jane Reid 8-5 at the second spot. The Lady Rebels were able to take the No. 3 doubles match as Ivona and Irena Mihailova downed Venkatesan and Grey 8-2.
"I am extremely proud of the way the girls competed today," Ole Miss assistant coach Kevin Cory said. "They put themselves in a position to defeat the No. 3 team in the nation. That will be very important later in the season, and we know we can play with anyone in the country."
Ole Miss returns to Oxford for its next match, which will be March 17 with LSU at 2 p.m.
#3 Georgia 5
#9 OLE MISS 4
SINGLES
#1 Agnes Muzamel (OM) def. Marissa Catlin (UGA) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; #2 Vanessa Castellano (UGA) def. Celeste Frey (OM) 6-2, 6-1; #3 Ivona Mihailova (OM) def. Esther Knox (UGA) 6-4, 6-7, 7-5; #4 Aarthi Venkatesan (UGA) def. Courtenay Chapman (OM) 6-2, 4-6, 6-0; #5 Mariana Eberle (OM) def. Christa Grey (UGA) 6-3, 6-2; #6 Kelly Baskin (UGA) def. Alesya Ignatieva (OM) 6-4, 6-2.
DOUBLES
#1 Catlin-Castellano (UGA) def. Frey-Eberle (OM) 8-4; #2 Knox-Reid (UGA) def. Muzamel-Chapman (OM) 8-5; #3 Mihailova-Mihailova (OM) def. Venkatesan-Grey (UGA) 8-2.
