The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Tennis To Open SEC Play Saturday
2/8/2001 | Women's Tennis
Feb. 8, 2001
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 23 nationally-ranked Ole Miss women's tennis team will open SEC play Saturday, as they host 31st-ranked Arkansas at 1:00 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center or at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center, depending on the weather.
The Lady Rebels come into the match with a 5-1 record. In their last action (Jan. 29), the Lady Rebels dropped a 4-0 decision to BYU in Provo, Utah. Sophomore Julie DeRoo leads the team with a 10-5 overall record, 5-1 at No. 1 singles. Junior Alesya Ignatieva is 10-4 overall and 5-0 in dual matches.
"We have a great rivalry with the University of Arkansas and every year we have long hard-fought contests," head coach Jerry Montgomery said. "With this being our first SEC dual match of the spring season, we will come out eager and ready to play. Arkansas is definitely an improved team over last year and will provide us a formidable challenge. Having a good turnout of our fans would make a big difference for us in this match."
Arkansas enters Saturday's match with a 1-1 record, 0-1 in the SEC. They downed Southwest Missouri State 6-1, and then lost to Vanderbilt, 4-1 in their conference opener. The Lady'Backs are led by two-time All-American Chin Bee Khoo, who is ranked No. 30 in the nation. She comes into the match with a 16-5 record.
Ole Miss defeated Arkansas 5-1, last year in Fayetteville. The last time the two teams met in Oxford, the Lady Rebels won 5-2. The Lady Rebels finished fourth in the SEC race last year, marking the 14th time overall that they have been in the top four of the conference. Arkansas came in seventh.
