Women's Tennis Downs Middle Tennessee In Season Opener

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss women’s tennis team won the doubles point and then got two quick wins at the top two spots in singles, on their way to a 6-1 season-opening win Sunday afternoon at the Gillom Sports Center.  Middle Tennessee fell to 0-2 on the year after losing to Tennessee on Friday.

The Lady Rebels took a 1-0 lead with wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles.   Senior Nika Koukhartchouk and freshman Karen Nijssen got it started with an 8-2 win at the top spot.  Senior Mimi Renaudin and freshman Laura van de Stroet teamed up to post an 8-5 victory on court three to secure the opening point.

In her debut for Ole Miss, Nijssen impressed fans, making quick work of her singles opponent at No. 2, to give the Lady Rebels a 2-0 lead.  MTSU’s Shannon Hartmann won the first game against Nijssen and wouldn’t win another one until the match was virtually over, as Nijssen dominated 6-1, 6-1.

“It was hard to wait until today to play,” Nijssen said.  “I was very excited to play, but a little nervous it was my first match.  Getting to play with Nika in doubles and winning gave me confidence for my singles match.  I played ok in singles, but she also made a lot of errors.”

Koukhartchouk downed Blue Raider Stephanie Parkinson, 6-0, 6-2 in her first match at No. 1 singles to increase the lead to 3-0.  Sophomore Soledad Podlipnik clinched the victory with her straight set win (6-3, 6-0) over Ann Kristin Silejstrom. 

“It’s been such a long layoff and then only a week and half of practice before this first match,” head coach Mark Beyers said.  “You never know how it will go.  It was good to get the doubles and then two quick wins at one and two singles to go up 3-0.  That put a lot of pressure on Middle Tennessee, because they had no margin for error at that point. 

“Obviously we need to get better in a lot of areas, because it’s going to get tougher as we go on the road next weekend.  Karen played well and made short work of her opponent.  We are also proud of Nika to play No. 1 and play like she did.  It was nice to see them dominate and get us off to a good start in the match.”

The Rebels picked up two more wins as van de Stroet won at No. 3 singles in three sets, and Renaudin took care off her opponent in straight sets at No. 6 singles.

Middle Tennessee’s only point came at No. 5 singles.

DOUBLES

#1 Koukhartchouk/Nijssen (OM) def. Siljestrom/Chemin (MTSU) 8-2

#2 Szabo/Hartmann (MTSU) def. Podlipnik/Subramanian (OM) 8-7(3)

#3 van de Stroet/Renaudin (OM) def. Parkinson/Herrera (MTSU) 8-5

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

SINGLES

#1 Nika Koukhartchouk (OM) def. Stephanie Parkinson (MTSU) 6-0, 6-2

#2 Karen Nijssen (OM) def. Shannon Hartmann (MTSU) 6-1, 6-1

#3 Laura van de Stroet (OM) def. Claudia Szabo (MTSU) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1

#4 Soledad Podlipnik (OM) def. Ann Kristin Silejstrom (MTSU) 6-3, 6-0

#5 Marlene Chemin (MTSU) def. Preethi Subramanian (OM) 6-2, 2-6, 10-7

#6 Mimi Renaudin (OM) def. Andrea Herrera (MTSU) 6-2, 6-0

Order of Finish: 2, 1, 4, 3, 5, 6

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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