Women's Tennis Loses Heartbreaker To Auburn 4-3

OXFORD, Miss. In a match that came down to the last match on court four, the Ole Miss women’s tennis team lost a heartbreaker, 4-3, to Auburn Sunday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.

The Rebels fell to 5-5 overall and 1-3 in the SEC, while Auburn improved to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in league play.  Ole Miss split its weekend matches, after upsetting No.16 Alabama 5-2 on Friday.

With the match squared at 3-3, all eyes turned to court four, where Rebel freshman Gabriela Rangel was locked in tight battle with Auburn junior Mrythe Molenveld.   After losing the first set 6-4, Rangel came back to take the second set 6-2.   She gained an early break in the third and had several chances to win it.  Rangel held a 5-4, 30-0 lead on her serve, but Molenveld was able to break back for 5-5.  Rangel quickly won two points on Molenveld’s serve, but the Tiger eventually held for 6-5.  Rangel faced three match points on her serve, but after erasing the third one, she won the next two points to get to a tiebreaker.   In the breaker, Molenveld raced out to a 6-2 lead, before Rangel got to within 6-4.  An unforced error by Rangel on the fourth match point, gave Molenveld the win.

“We are disappointed for the team, because they’ve worked really hard,” head coach Mark Beyers said.  “They put themselves in a position to win the match. We showed again that we are a good team, but so is every other team in this league.  It came down to a couple of tiebreakers.  We won them on Friday, but didn’t today.  We have to learn from this and get better for the rest of the way.  We are capable of beating everybody left, but we have to learn now to take care of business on the big points.”

Ole Miss got on the board first by winning the doubles point in dominating fashion.  Rangel teamed up with Abigail Guthrie for an 8-2 win at No. 3, and then the 28th-ranked team of Kristi Boxx and Karen Nijssen downed their opponent 8-3 at No. 1.

Auburn got on the board when 35th-ranked Alex Haney defeated 62nd-ranked Karen Nijssen 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2 singles. 

The Rebels regained the lead (2-1) when freshman Abigail Guthrie downed Tiger Daniela Vukadinovic 6-1, 6-2 on court five.

The Tigers would win the next two matches on courts one and six to take a 3-2 lead.  Fani Chifchieva, ranked No. 11, defeated freshman Kristi Boxx, ranked No. 60, 7-6(4), 6-2 at No. 1, and then Jil Hastenrath handed senior Mimi Renaudin a 6-4, 6-3, loss at No. 6.

Moments after court four went to three sets, Ole Miss tied it up when sophomore Laura van de Stroet stormed back from 5-2 down in the second set to win a tiebreaker and her match 7-5, 7-6(2) at No. 3 singles.

The Rebels head to San Diego, Calif., for Spring Break to participate in the Barnes Tennis Center Invitational.   First up, is a match against New Mexico Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. CT.

DOUBLES

1. Boxx/Nijssen (OM) def. Haney/Chappell (AU) 8-3

2. Chifchieva/Molenveld (AU) def. van de Stroet/Renaudin (OM) 8-4

3. Rangel/Guthrie (OM) def. Hastenrath/Vukadinovic (UA) 8-2

Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2

SINGLES

1. Fani Chifchieva (AU) def. Kristi Boxx (OM) 7-6(4), 6-2

2. Alex Haney (AU) def. Karen Nijssen (OM) 6-2, 6-4

3. Laura van de Stroet (OM) def. Whitney Chappell (AU) 7-5, 7-6(2)

4. Mrythe Molenveld (AU) def. Gabriela Rangel (OM) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4)

5. Abigail Guthrie (OM) def. Daniela Vukadinovic (AU) 6-1, 6-2

6. Jil Hastenrath (AU) def. Mimi Renaudin (OM) 6-4, 6-3.

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

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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