The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Tennis Finishes Seventh in National Rankings
6/21/1999 | Women's Tennis
June 4, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's tennis team earned its highest ever year-end ranking, coming in at No. 7 in the final edition of the Rolex Collegiate Rankings released Thursday by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), while three Lady Rebels finished highly-ranked in singles and doubles.
"This is a great day for women's tennis at Ole Miss, with our having achieved our highest year-end ranking ever, being No. 7," head coach Jerry Montgomery said. "This national ranking is a great tribute to the commitment and the fighting spirit of my team, and I am especially pleased with our finishing strong at the NCAAs. Agnes, Ivona and Courtenay continue to demonstrate their focus on excellence by having achieved impressive national rankings in singles and doubles."
This is the third year in a row that Ole Miss has finished the season ranked among the nation's top 10. Ole Miss was one of only four schools to have both its men's and women's tennis teams finish in the top 10. Stanford, Georgia and Texas were the other three.
NCAA Champion Florida claimed the top spot in the rankings followed by Duke, Stanford, Georgia and Texas rounding out the top five. Rounding out the top 10 were California, Ole Miss, William & Mary, BYU and Arizona State.
The Lady Rebels completed the season with a 17-6 overall record and reached the quarterfinals at the NCAA Team Championships in South Bend, Ind. They defeated ninth- ranked Arizona State 5-2 in the Sweet Sixteen before falling to NCAA runner-up Duke. The Lady Rebels finished in the top third of the SEC, which had seven teams in the top 25 and three in the top 10.
Ole Miss' top player, Agnes Muzamel, finished the year ranked 13th in the nation in singles, the third highest ranked SEC player in the nation. She posted a 29-13 overall record and earned All-America honors for the third year in a row. It is also the third consecutive year that Muzamel has ended the year ranked in the top 20. In 1996 she finished 19th and last year she was ranked second. Muzamel also earned All-SEC honors for the third year in a row.
Sophomore Ivona Mihailova ended the year ranked 29th in the nation in singles. She tallied a 29-16 overall record and qualified for the NCAA Championships in singles. Mihailova has been ranked in the top 30 all spring.
Courtenay Chapman completed her third year to be nationally-ranked, as she and Muzamel tied for 10th in the doubles rankings. Since teaming up together at the beginning of last year, the two have remained in the top 10 in every poll. Chapman earned All-America honors for the third time in her career. Both Chapman and Muzamel, who posted a final record of 23-8, have been named All-America in each of their three years at Ole Miss.
While achieving excellence on the court, the Lady Rebels were outstanding in the classroom, posting a cumulative grade point average of 3.67, the highest among all sports at Ole Miss. Muzamel, Mihailova and Chapman all made the SEC Academic Honor Roll, along with Missy Brewer, Irena Mihailova and Martina Crha.