The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Tennis Takes Out Middle Tennessee
5/13/2000 | Women's Tennis
May 13, 2000
MOBILE, Ala. - The No. 16 Ole Miss women's tennis team showed why it is one of the top squads in the country, downing Middle Tennessee State 5-1 Saturday morning at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts on the campus of the University of South Alabama. The Lady Rebels advance to the championship where they will face the winner of the South Alabama/Central Florida match at 12:00 p.m., Sunday.
"I am really proud of the way our team competed out there today," head coach Jerry Montgomery said. "Middle Tennessee is a much improved team over the team that we faced earlier in the season. David Thornton has done a great job with that program. We responded to the challenge. When it was down to two matches on the court, Celeste (Frey) lifted her level of play and Irena (Mihailova) remained focused and determined to win."
Ole Miss, playing without its No. 3 player Julie DeRoo, got on the board first when senior Mariana Eberle dominated Tanja Buchheim 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. Eberle has now won nine of her last 10 matches. The Lady Rebels quickly went up 3-0 with convincing wins at No. 4 and 5 singles.
Sophomore Alesya Ignatieva downed MTSU's Niger Kaur 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 singles and then freshman Mira Radu cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Michaela Gridling at No. 4 singles to make it 3-0. Radu has won seven of her last eight matches.
Middle Tennessee State got its first point of the day as Tina Hojnik upset Lady Rebel Ivona Mihailova, ranked No. 16 in the nation, 6-3, 6-0 at the top spot. That made it 3-1 Ole Miss with court two in the second set and court six in the third set.
Celeste Frey, after being down early in her match, gave Ole Miss a 4-1 lead with her straight set win (6-4, 6-4) over Katja Kuehner at No. 2 singles. Frey has won six of her last seven matches.
That left senior Irena Mihailova on the court against Sarah Grohnert of Middle Tennessee. Grohnert won the first set 6-1, but Mihailova came back strong to even the match at one set all winning 6-1 in the second. In the final set, Mihailova stormed out to a 4-1 lead and went on to win 6-2 to clinch the victory for the Lady Rebels. She improved to 6-3 at No. 6 singles this year.
The Lady Rebels will be looking to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Malibu, Calif. May 18-21. Ole Miss has been to the Sweet Sixteen seven times overall and five straight years.
NCAA WOMEN's TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS FIRST ROUND -- Mobile, Ala.
SINGLES
#1 Tina Hojnik (MTSU) def. Ivona Mihailova (OM) 6-3, 6-0
#2 Celeste Frey (OM) def. Katja Kuehner (MTSU) 6-4, 6-4
#3 Mariana Eberle (OM) def. Tanja Buchheim (MTSU) 6-1, 6-0
#4 Mira Radu (OM) def. Michaela Gridling (MTSU) 6-1, 6-0
#5 Alesya Ignatieva (OM) def. Niger Kaur (MTSU) 6-2, 6-1
#6 Irena Mihailova (OM) def. Sarah Grohnert (MTSU) 1-6, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles were not played
