The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Florida
Lady Rebels Just Miss Upset Of No. 5 Florida
3/10/2000 | Women's Tennis
March 10, 2000
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - With the match all square at 4-4, the fifth-ranked Florida Lady Gators won at No. 2 doubles to clinch a close 5-4 win over the No. 8 Ole Miss women's tennis team at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex, Friday evening.
Ole Miss falls to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the SEC, while Florida improves to 9-1 and 5-0 in the SEC. The Lady Rebels, playing without one of their top players Celeste Frey, almost ended Florida's SEC consecutive dual match streak, which went to 97 with the win.
Florida took a 1-0 lead in the match when Whitney Laiho downed Lady Rebel Julie DeRoo 6-1, 6-3 at No. 1 singles. Ole Miss answered as Ivona Mihailova, ranked No. 29, cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Florida's 31st-ranked Jessica Lehnhoff at No. 2 singles.
Stephanie Hazlett gave the Lady Gators a 2-1 advantage with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Mariana Eberle at No. 3 singles. Irena Mihailova tied the match upsetting 77th-ranked Julia Scaringe 6-4, 6-4 at No. 6 singles and then DeRoo and Eberle defeated Laiho and Lehnhoff 8-5 at No. 1 doubles to give Ole Miss its first lead in the match, 3-2.
The match at No. 5 singles was tightly contested with Florida's Traci Green winning a third-set tiebreaker for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5) victory over Lady Rebel Alesya Ignatieva, making it 3- 3. Freshman Mira Radu rallied to beat Florida's Baili Camino 2-6, 7-6(0), 6-4 to give the Lady Rebels a 4-3 lead with two doubles matches left to be played.
Florida's duo of Camino and Hazlett downed Irena Mihailova and Radu 8-3 at No. 3 doubles to square the match at 4-4 with No. 2 doubles remaining. Ivona Mihailova and Ignatieva were down 7-5 with Green and Scaringe serving for the match. The Lady Rebel duo broke to make it 7-6, but lost a hard-fought final game as Florida clinched the victory.
The Lady Rebels are off until Friday, March 17, when they host Vanderbilt at 2:00 p.m. at the Palmer/Psyllium Tennis Center.
#5 Florida 5#8 Ole Miss 4
SINGLES
#1 Whitney Laiho (UF) def. Julie DeRoo (OM) 6-1, 6-3
#2 Ivona Mihailova (OM) def. Jessica Lehnhoff (UF) 6-3, 6-0
#3 Stephanie Hazlett (UF) def. Mariana Eberle (OM) 6-4, 6-1
#4 Mira Radu (OM) def. Baili Camino (UF) 2-6, 7-6(0), 6-4
#5 Traci Green (UF) def. Alesya Ignatieva (OM) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5)
#6 Irena Mihailova (OM) def. Julia Scaringe (UF) 6-4, 6-4
DOUBLES
#1 DeRoo-Eberle (OM) def. Laiho-Lehnhoff (UF) 8-5
#2 Green-Scaringe (UF) def. Iv. Mihailova-Ignatieva (OM) 8-6
#3 Camino-Hazlett (UF) def. Ir. Mihailova-Radu (OM) 8-3
