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Mississippi State
No. 25 Rebels Edge State 4-3
4/11/2015 | Women's Tennis
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OXFORD, Miss. -- Senior Day at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center was a back and forth battle between the No. 25 Ole Miss women's tennis team and Mississippi State, and the Rebels were fortunate to escape with a 4-3 win Saturday. With the win, the Rebels (14-9, 5-8) have now won 26 straight against the Lady Bulldogs.
The Rebels had to rally, despite taking the doubles point and a quick win from senior Erin Stephens at No. 4 singles to go up 2-0.
State picked up wins at Nos. 1, 5 and 3 singles to take a 3-2 lead, but the Rebels did not go away, with Mai El Kamash earning a come-from-behind win at No. 2 singles to tie it. All eyes then focused on Zalina Khairudinova, who erased a 3-0 deficit in the third set against Mississippi State's Timea Guibe to clinch 6-3, 6-7(7), 7-5.
"That was a pretty dramatic win," head coach Mark Beyers said. "We beat a pretty good team. State took it to us in singles for a while. They did all but win the match. If you keep fighting, sometimes good things will happen. We were able to keep battling and turn some matches around one more time. I have to give Mai and Z a lot of credit for fighting back. It was an unbelievable match between two really good college teams."
Khairudinova battled back to get to 4-4 in the third set and then broke for a 5-4 lead. She had match point, but Guibe erased it to tie at 5-5. Khairudinova was able to break again and serve it out for the win. It marked the second time in SEC play Khairudinova has clinched. She also clinched the 4-3 win against Auburn.
"My head was not clear in the beginning [of the third set], but when all the other girls came to my court to cheer for me, it gave me more energy," Khairudinova said. "It pumped me up, and I knew that I had to give everything I had. I just kept fighting for every point. Before I realized it, it was 4-4. I am glad I could come back and finish it off. It was a heck of a match."
The Rebels got the day started honoring the seniors for their contributions to the program and then jumped on the Lady Bulldogs in doubles to take a 1-0 lead. Stephens made quick work of Louise Ronaldson 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles to make it 2-0 Rebels.
"It was a very emotional day, especially when I went up to hug Mark and Jason (Ontog -- associate head coach) and they told me congratulations," Stephens said. "It was exciting and amazing to win it 4-3. I came out really excited to play, because it was senior day and I wanted to beat State obviously. I tried to focus one point at a time and I am just so happy about the win."
"We took it to them in doubles and the point was never really in doubt," Beyers said. "We definitely earned that point, where maybe we stole a couple of points in singles. Erin has been playing some really good tennis the last couple of weeks. I knew that she was riding high and hopefully she can continue that."
State started to take control of the match, earning straight set wins on courts five and one. Jennifer Brown topped senior Iris Verboven 6-2, 6-2 and then 40th-ranked Jasmine Lee upset 12th-ranked Julia Jones 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 to even up the match at 2-2.
In the first of three matches to go three sets, MSU's Martina Frantova came back to beat freshman Natalie Suk 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3, giving the Lady Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.
El Kamash jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first set against State's Georgina Petrasc at No. 2 singles, but ended up losing the set 7-5. She was down 4-1 in the second before rallying to win it 7-5. At 4-3 in the third set, El Kamash held for 5-3 and then broke Patrasc for 6-3 to tie the match and set up Khairudinova's heroics.
"It's great to win 26 in a row, but it was really just about this match today," Beyers said. "I understand the history, but we just needed to win this one to continue our path to the NCAA Championships and for ranking and seeding purposes."
The draw for the SEC Championship will be released at the conclusion of regular season play Sunday.
For more information on Ole Miss Women's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter, @OleMissWTennis, on Facebook at OleMissWTennis and on Instagram at OleMissWTennis.
Players Mentioned
