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Mississippi State
Rebels Drop Match at No. 25 Mississippi State
4/8/2016 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Ole Miss women's tennis team dropped the doubles point at No. 25 Mississippi State and their rally came up short in a 5-2 loss to the Bulldogs at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
Freshman Allie Sanford and sophomore Natalie Suk won 6-2 at No. 2 doubles, but MSU got wins on courts one and three to secure the early 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs increased their lead to 3-0 with straight set wins on courts two and three, before the Rebels began to rally. Arianne Hartono, ranked No. 29 in singles, knocked off 14th-ranked Jasmine Lee 6-3, 7-5 at No. 1 singles to make it 3-1 and then Zalina Khairudinova finished off a straight set win against No. 115 Anastasia Rentouli on court four to pull the Rebels within one, 3-2.
At that time, senior Marija Milutinovic was up a set and tied 5-5 in the second at five, and Sanford was down a set and tied 4-4 in the second. Sanford would drop the final two games to State's Jennifer Brown as the Bulldogs clinched. MSU won the final match on court five in a supertiebreaker.
Notables…
• The Rebels are now 9-9 overall and 2-9 in the SEC.
• The loss snaps a 26-match win streak in the series to Mississippi State.
• Arianne Hartono improved to 19-9 overall, 12-3 at No. 1 singles and 6-3 in the SEC.
• Zalina Khairudinova improved to 14-9 overall, 7-6 in dual matches.
Quoting Head Coach Mark Beyers...
"First off, credit to Mississippi State. They have a really good top 25 team. Like in too many other major matches this year, we had some really good individual efforts and results today, but we haven't been able to play enough complete matches this year where everyone digs in their heels and competes from beginning to end. Once again we weren't able to turn any matches after losing the first set."
Next up…
Ole Miss continues on the road next weekend at Arkansas and Missouri to close out the SEC regular season.
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
