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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Tulane
Women's Tennis Loses 4-3 Heartbreaker To Tulane
2/8/2003 | Women's Tennis
Feb. 8, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. - The 38th-ranked Ole Miss women's tennis team won the doubles point against 42nd-ranked Tulane University, but fell behind early in singles on their way to a heartbreaking 4-3 loss in match that lasted 6 ? hours Saturday afternoon at the Gillom Sports Center.
Ole Miss (2-3) got the momentum early by winning the doubles in exciting fashion. The Lady Rebels took the No. 2 position 8-5 and then Tulane (4-0) answered with a 8-5 win on court three. That left court one to decide the all important point. Senior Mira Radu and freshman Virginia Tomatis faced a tough task against the nation's No. 1 ranked team, Julie Smekodub and Jenny Kuhn. The Lady Rebel duo led 7-4, before the Green Wave pair stormed back to take the lead. The match went to a tiebreaker, and after battling back and forth in the breaker, Ole Miss won it 9-7 to clinch the point.
Tulane evened the match when Kuhn downed OM's Florencia Basile 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles. Ole Miss appeared to be on their way to a 3-1 lead in the overall match, but the Green Wave would rally on both courts one and two for victories.
Junior Karem Harboe led 6-1, 5-3 and had match point against Tulane's Erika Valdes, but Valdes won four straight games to win the second set and then took the third 6-1 to give her team a 2-1 advantage.
The feature match of the day between Radu, ranked No. 8 in the nation, and Smekodub, ranked No. 10, lived up to its billing. Smekodub won the first set 6-4, and Radu claimed the second 7-5. Radu got off to a huge start in the third set leading 3-0, but Smekodub would rally and hold match point for a 6-4 win to make it 3-1 Tulane.
Ole Miss pulled to within 3-2 when Tomatis held off Tulane's Maria Ivanov in the third set at No. 4 singles. Tomatis won the first set 6-3, and then Ivanov rallied to win the second 6-4. Tomatis held a 5-2 lead in the final set before her counterpart won two games in a row. Ivanov served to make it 5-5, but Tomatis broke to take the set 6-4 and the match. She has now won four of her first five dual matches and seven of her last eight matches overall dating back to last fall.
Junior Sabrina Peppl squared the match by downing Ana Maria Saaibi 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 5 position. In the deciding match on court six, Audra Adams won the first set against Nancy Kockott and then had a 3-0 lead in the second set. Kockott tied the set and then survived two match points at 4-5 before coming back to win it 7-5. She took command of the final set early on and never let up, winning it 6-1 to clinch the 4-3 win.
"Obviously it breaks our hearts to lose that match," Assistant Coach Whitt Taber said. "We want to give Tulane a lot of credit for fighting back, even when they looked like they were out of it. What we've got to take from this, is we have to understand that we got tight when we had a chance to win the match. We have to figure out a way to step on the throttle when we get the opportunity again like Sabrina and Vicky. They did a great job of closing their matches out. I have no doubt that we will find a way."
The Lady Rebels return to action next weekend as they travel to Mobile, Ala., to take on 18th-ranked South Alabama and 23rd-ranked Fresno State.
#42 Tulane 4
#38 Ole Miss 3
SINGLES
#1 Julie Smekodub (TU) def. Mira Radu (OM) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
#2 Jenny Kuhn (TU) def. Florencia Basile (OM) 6-2, 6-3
#3 Erika Valdes (TU) def. Karem Harboe (OM) 1-6, 7-5, 6-1
#4 Virginia Tomatis (OM) def. Maria Ivavnov (TU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
#5 Sabrina Peppl (OM) def. Ana Maria Saaibi (TU) 6-2, 6-3
#6 Nancy Kockott (TU) def. Audra Adams (OM) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
DOUBLES
#1 Radu-Tomatis (OM) def. Smekodub-Kuhn (TU) 9-8(7)
#2 Ivanov-Kockott (TU) def. Harboe-Basile (OM) 8-5
#3 Adams-Peppl (OM) def. Valdes-Saaibi (TU) 8-5
