The University of Mississippi Athletics
Lady Rebels Capture SEC Title
6/21/1999 | Women's Tennis
April 25, 1999
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Ole Miss women's tennis team upset No. 1 and defending NCAA Champion Florida 5-4 to capture the SEC Tournament title Sunday, their first ever conference tournament title and the biggest win in the history of the program. With the win, the Lady Rebels improve to 20-4 overall and finish 12-2 in the league.
With the match tied at 4-4 twin sisters Ivona and Irena Mihailova were playing Florida's Stephanie Nickitas and Baili Camino at No. 3 doubles for the tournament title. The match was tight until the Mihailova's broke to go up 6-5, but Florida came back to make it 6-6. The Lady Rebel duo broke again for a 7-6 lead, and on the sixth match point of Ivona's serve, they clinched the victory for the Lady Rebels.
"It's always easier to go into a tournament as the underdog," head coach Jerry Montgomery said. "Florida had a lot of pressure on the them, and they usually win by a huge margin. We felt that if we could keep it close then we had a shot. We had so much to gain, and they had so much to lose. I am just happy that we were able to close it out. I really want to hand it to my No. 3 doubles team. They felt the weight of the world and they showed tremendous poise and character to close it out."
Florida took a 2-0 lead in the match with decisive wins at No. 5 and 6 singles. Traci Green dominated Lady Rebel Mariana Eberle 6-0, 6-0 and then Camino handed Alesya Ignatieva a 6-1, 6-4 loss. Ole Miss got on the board when Ivona Mihailova, ranked No. 37 in the nation, knocked off 17th-ranked Stephanie Hazlett 7-6(1), 6-3 to make it 2-1.
Senior Agnes Muzamel, ranked No. 4 in the nation, evened the match with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over seventh-ranked Whitney Laiho at No. 1 singles. The win marks her 120th career victory and she now needs only four wins to become the all-time career singles leader at Ole Miss.
The Gators went up 3-2 after Nickitas held off Ole Miss' Celeste Frey 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4 at No. 2 singles. Ole Miss answered as senior Courtenay Chapman rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the third and deciding set to take a 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-4 win over Florida's M.C. White at No. 4 singles. That squared the match at 3-3 heading into doubles.
It was a huge day for seniors Muzamel and Chapman, as they gave Ole Miss a 4-3 lead when they defeated Green and White 8-4 at No. 2 doubles. Florida's Laiho and Hazlett beat Frey and Eberle 8-5 at No. 1 doubles to set up the deciding match on court three.
The Lady Rebels snapped Florida's 69-consecutive SEC winning streak and a 53-consecutive dual-match streak. Florida clinched the overall SEC Championship with Ole Miss' win over Georgia on Saturday. This is the first time that neither Florida or Georgia won the SEC Tournament since 1990.
Ole Miss' back-to-back wins over No. 3 Georgia and No. 1 Florida gave the Lady Rebels their best finish in the SEC in the history of the program. Also the 20 wins is second most in Lady Rebel history. The Lady Rebels won 21 matches in 1996 and are sure to eclipse that mark with NCAA tournament play ahead.
The Lady Rebels will find out on May 5 where they will be seeded in the NCAA Tournament and whether or not they will be hosting one of the 16 four-team regionals that will take place May 14-16.
1999 WOMEN'S SEC TOURNAMENT - Baton Rouge, La.
#1 seed Florida 4#3 seed Ole Miss 5SINGLES
#1 Agnes Muzamel (OM) def. Whitney Laiho (UF) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3#2 Stephanie Nickitas (UF) def. Celeste Frey (OM) 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4#3 Ivona Mihailova (OM) def. Stephanie Hazlett (UF) 7-6(1), 6-3#4 Courtenay Chapman (OM) def. M.C. White (UF) 7-6, 2-6, 6-4#5 Traci Green (UF) def. Mariana Eberle (OM) 6-0, 6-0#6 Baili Camino (UF) def. Alesya Ignatieva (OM) 6-1, 6-4DOUBLES
#1 Laiho-Hazlett (UF) def. Frey-Eberle (OM) 8-5#2 Muzamel-Chapman (OM) def. Green-White (UF) 8-4#3 Mihailova-Mihailova (OM) def. Nickitas-Camino (UF) 8-6
