The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
William & Mary
No. 24 Ole Miss Defeats William & Mary
2/15/2015 | Women's Tennis
Complete Results | Photo Gallery 
OXFORD, Miss. - Doubles continues to be a strong area for the No. 24 ranked Rebels, as they dominated at No. 2 and 3 to secure the opening point against William & Mary on their way to a 5-2 win Sunday at the Gillom Sports Center.
With the win, Ole Miss equaled its best start since 1997, when the Rebels also started 8-1. The Rebels concluded the weekend 2-0 after downing Tulane 6-1 on Friday and are now 4-0 at home.
For the second time in two matches, the Rebels were dominate at No. 2 and 3 doubles winning 6-1 on both courts to take the early 1-0 lead.
Junior Mai El Kamash made it 2-0 when she downed Melanie Roy 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. She improved to 17-7 overall, 5-1 at No. 3 singles.
William & Mary got on the board, as Leeza Nemchinov upset No. 7 ranked Julia Jones 6-4, 7-6 at No. 1 singles, handing the senior her first dual match loss and only her fourth of the year.
Freshman Arianne Hartono rallied to win her match against Jeltje Loomans to give the Rebels a 3-1 lead. Hartono lost the first set tiebreaker and then trailed 5-2 in the second set before reeling off 11 straight games to win the match in three. Hartono was up 5-3 in the first set and served for it at 5-4, but got broken. They went to a tiebreaker, which Hartono led 5-3 and then had a set point at 6-5, but Loomans won the next two points to take the set 7-6(6).
"I stayed disciplined like coach told me to do, and I was able to turn it around," Hartono said. "In the second set I just tried to focus on staying in the rally and play every point like it was the last one. I wasn't aware of what was going on everywhere else, I was just trying to stay in my match and stay in the moment."
William & Mary cut the lead to 3-2 as Olivia Thaler defeated freshman Natalie Suk 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.
With two matches remaining, and the Rebels needing to win just one of them for the victory, senior Erin Stephens came through at No. 5 singles beating Maria Groener 7-5, 6-3. Stephens raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first set, but then Groener won five straight games and served for the set at 5-4. Stephens broke back and then held serve before breaking Groener again for the set, 7-5. In the second set, Stephens was down 3-1 early, but won five straight games to for 6-3 to clinch the Rebel victory.
"These guys (William & Mary) are a very good team," head coach Mark Beyers said. "I think they are definitely going to be moving up in the rankings. We knew it would be tough. It looks like a routine match by the score, but it wasn't. We needed a big comeback from Ari and then Erin closed it for us."
Sophomore Zalina Khairudinova finished off the scoring, handing the Tribe's Cecily Weunscher a 6-4, 6-1 loss at No. 6 singles.
The Rebels conclude the homestand and play their final non-conference match Feb. 20 against Lipscomb at 12 p.m.
For more information on Ole Miss Women's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWTennis, on Facebook at OleMissWTennis and on Instagram at OleMissWTennis.
Players Mentioned
