The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Tennis To Face Kentucky and Vanderbilt This Weekend
3/5/2003 | Women's Tennis
March 5, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's tennis team, ranked 37th in Wednesday's Omni Hotels Collegiate National Rankings, continues its conference road trip with a pair of matches this weekend. First up, the Lady Rebels will face 13th-ranked Kentucky Friday at 4:00 p.m. in Lexington, followed by a match against 10th-ranked Vanderbilt Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in Nashville.
The Lady Rebels enter the weekend at 3-7 overall and looking for their first SEC win. They dropped a 6-1 decision to No. 1 Florida and then lost a nail-biter, 4-3 to 24th-ranked South Carolina on Sunday in the opening weekend of conference play. Six of their seven losses have come against top 25 teams, including two in the top 10.
"I feel like we are snake-bit," head coach Mark Beyers said. "We've been close in a lot of our losses, and we just can't seem to win the big points when we need them. Kentucky and Vanderbilt are two very good teams. It will be another tough weekend in the SEC."
Kentucky enters the weekend with an 8-1 overall record, 1-1 in the SEC. They rallied from a 0-3 deficit to defeat No. 10 Tennessee 4-3 last Friday, before losing 6-1 to No. 5 Georgia on Sunday. The Wildcats are led by 76th-ranked Sarah Witten at No. 1 singles. The Wildcats' No. 1 doubles team of Witten and Amy Trefethen is ranked No. 23. Ole Miss won five in a row against Kentucky from 1995-2000, but Kentucky has won two straight against Ole Miss, including last year's 4-3 win in Oxford.
Vanderbilt comes into the weekend at 9-3 overall and 0-2 in the SEC. The Commodores lost to Georgia and Tennessee 4-3. The Commodores are led by 12th-ranked Sarah Riske, who is 14-6 overall and 9-3 at No. 1 singles. Vanderbilt has gone 6-3 against Ole Miss since Geoff Macdonald took over the program in 1995. The Lady Rebels' last win in the series came in 1999, when they won 5-1 in Nashville.
