The University of Mississippi Athletics
A Finish Years in the Making
3/6/2015 | Women's Tennis
By Austin Miller, OleMissSports.com
OXFORD, Miss. -- From picking up the game at the age of 5, on the courts of River Hills Club in Jackson, to playing the top spot for the nation's No. 17 ranked team, senior Julia Jones has come a long way in her tennis career.
Jones eyes a fitting end to her Ole Miss career, perhaps a historical end, as she readies for her last Southeastern Conference home opener.
After starting the season 17-3 overall, including a 7-0 mark at No. 1 singles, Jones rose to a No. 7 national ranking, the highest for a Rebel since two-time All-American Kristi Boxx was ranked No. 9 in 2012. She helped the Rebels start the season 8-1, equaling their best start since 1997.
The Rebels dropped two tough matches last weekend at the start of SEC play, but Jones went 1-1, improving to 19-5 overall and 9-2 at No. 1 singles. Now with 92 wins for her career, she needs only eight more wins to become the fifth player in program history to reach the 100-win mark.
"She's meant so much to our program," head coach Mark Beyers said. "She worked her way up in the lineup, from No. 4, to No. 3, to playing No. 1 now. Wherever she has played, she has done well for us. To get to 100 wins, you can't lose a lot of matches. It's hard to replace that number of wins."
A two-time All-SEC honoree, earning All-Freshman honors as a freshman and All-SEC honors this past season, Jones has slowly moved her way up in the Rebels' lineup from No. 4 singles, to No. 2 and No. 3 singles, to No. 1 singles, the most prominent and pressure-packed position in the lineup.
"Every time out, she knows she's going to play one of the best players in the country, but she also knows that she is one of the best players in the country," Beyers said. "When she's playing well, it's going to be tough for any other players to come in and beat her."
Jones has not only handled the pressure of the position, Beyers said, but she has thrived in her new role, winning nine of her first 11 matches at No. 1 singles and posting an 11-4 record against ranked opponents this season. Both Jones and her head coach credited her success to her maturation entering her senior season.
"One of the biggest things I have learned is to stay in the moment during the match," Jones said. "In my earlier years, sometimes I would think ahead too much, especially in a dual match. Now, I just focus on one point at a time and staying focused on my match and not thinking about the consequence while I'm playing. I think that has helped me play better and win more matches."
"The difference this last year has been her maturity level on the court, handling adverse situations better. She has always been a great ball-striker, but sometimes, mentally, when things got tough, she wasn't always able to handle it as well. She's done a much better job of handling adversity and thus, she's won a lot of close matches against top-level opponents."
For Jones, this season has been just as special because of the support her family, who now reside in McComb, Mississippi. Her parents and younger sister, Jones said, drive up to Oxford for as many matches as they can, and she has also had extended family attend her matches.
"It's great having her family around," Beyers said. "It's fun for us as coaches to have seen her mature on the court and really develop her game. For her family, it's the same, seeing her have the success she has had."
Austin Miller is a writer and blogger for OleMissSports.com. He joined the staff in June 2013 after serving as sports editor of the Daily Mississippian. Follow him on Twitter @austinkmiller.
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