Lady Rebel Netters Drop Tight 4-3 Decision At Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. The Ole Miss women’s tennis team, ranked No. 48 in this week’s national rankings, dropped a tight 4-3 decision to No. 33 Maryland Saturday afternoon at the Tennis Center at College Park.

With a 3-2 lead, Maryland only needed to split the final two matches, which they did.  Maggie MacKeever beat Lady Rebel Carlin Cochran 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 at the No. 6 position just after OM’s Nika Koukhartchouk held off Maryland’s Elyse Steiner in three sets (3-6, 6-2, 6-3) at No. 4.         

The Lady Rebels found themselves having to win four singles, after Maryland swept the doubles.  The Terrapins’ 44^th-ranked team of Marriane Baker and Eleanor Peters defeated Ilona Somers and Elizabeth Wood 8-4 at the top spot.  They claimed 8-5 and 8-3 wins respectively, at the other two positions.

"The girls fought hard," head coach Mark Beyers said.  "We are extremely proud of the character they showed in battling a good team all the way to the end.  We have a lot of players that are not at 100 percent right now, and they are giving it everything they have."

Somers picked up her second straight win at No. 1 singles, defeating Peters in three sets. After dropping a close first set 7-5, Somers won easily in the next two, 6-1, 6-0.

Also claiming victory for the Lady Rebels, freshman Soledad Podlipnik remained undefeated with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Lisa Miller at the No. 5 spot.

Maryland’s other two singles wins came at No. 2 where 75^th-ranked Baker defeated Ole Miss’ Kseniia Tokarieva, and at No. 3 where freshman Elizabeth Wood lsot to Michal Amir, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Ole Miss returns home to host Middle Tennessee Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center.

#33 Maryland 4

#48 Ole Miss 3

DOUBLES

1. Baker/ Peters (MD) def. Somers/Wood (OM) 8-4

2. Amir/MacKeever (MD) def. Tokarieva/Koukhartchouk (OM) 8-5

3. Miller/Steiner (MD) def. Podlipnik/Cochran (OM) 8-3

SINGLES

1. Ilona Somers (OM) def. Eleanor Peters (MD) 5-7, 6-1, 6-0

2. Marianne Baker (MD) def. Kseniia Tokarieva (OM) 6-0, 6-3

3. Michal Amir (MD) def. Elizabeth Wood (OM) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3

4. Nika Koukhartchouk (OM) def. Elyse Steiner (MD) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3

5. Soledad Podlipnik (OM) def. Lisa Miller (MD) 6-3, 6-1

6. Maggie MacKeever (MD) def. Carlin Cochran (OM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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