The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
LSU
Rebels Come up Short at No. 15 LSU
3/11/2016 | Women's Tennis
BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Ole Miss women's tennis team built a 3-1 lead against No. 15 LSU on the road Friday, but the Tigers rallied to steal a 4-3 win at the LSU Tennis Complex.
With rain all over the south the last couple of days, the match was played indoors. The Rebels delivered the early blow, taking the doubles point with a 6-2 win at No. 1 from 27th-ranked Arianne Hartono and Mai El Kamash and a 7-5 win at No. 3 from Zalina Khairudinova and Marija Milutinovic.
LSU tied it early in singles, as Milutinovic lost to Ella Taylor 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6. The Rebels regained the lead, when 62nd-ranked El Kamash finished off Skylar Kuykendall 7-6, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
Hartono, ranked No. 47, gave Ole Miss a 3-1 lead as she defeated 20th-ranked Joana Vale Costa 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.
The Tigers began their comeback with a three-set win at five. After Khairudinova rallied to get the second set to force a third, Owens turned it up for the 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 win on court five. That made it 3-2.
LSU tied at 3-3 when 57th-ranked Jessica Golovin held off Natalie Suk 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 2 singles.
That left freshman Tea Jandric on court against LSU's Ryann Foster at No. 4 singles. Jandric won the first set 7-5, but Foster came back to win the second 6-3. She got off to an early lead and never let up, winning it 6-1 to clinch the victory for the Tigers.
Notables…
• The Rebels are now 8-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC. They travel to College Station Sunday to face No. 16 Texas A&M.
• Arianne Hartono improved to 14-7 overall and 7-1 at No. 1 singles.
• Mai El Kamash won her fifth in a row to improve to 15-5 overall, 5-1 at No. 3 singles.
• The Rebels are now a combined 18-5 at the top three spots in the lineup.
• Tea Jandric had her seven-match win streak snapped.
• Zalina Khairudinova had her four-match win streak broken.
Quoting Head Coach Mark Beyers…
"This was a match between two very good college teams. It was a great battle. LSU was able to turn the momentum one more time than us. We have to continue to work to get just a little bit better. We are not far off, but these kind of matches sting. We have to be able to regroup and rebound on 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. Also follow Coach Beyers on Twitter, @MarkBeyers.
Players Mentioned
