The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Oklahoma State - National Team Indoor
Women's Tennis Suffers First Loss at ITA Indoor
2/10/2017 | Women's Tennis
Tournament Central
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The No. 15 Ole Miss women's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season, dropping a 4-0 decision to third-seeded and fifth-ranked Oklahoma State in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Friday morning.
The match was much closer than the final score indicated, as four of the singles matches went three sets, before OSU closed out the Rebels.
Both teams came into the match undefeated in doubles this year, but the Cowgirls picked up a 6-2 win at No. 1 behind the nation's No. 5 ranked team and followed with a 6-3 victory at No. 2 to clinch the opening point.
Each team won three first sets in singles, but the Cowgirls capitalized on two of those with a pair of seniors winning in straight sets at Nos. 2 and 5 singles to put the Rebels behind 3-0. Sophomore Tea Jandric had a set point in the first against No. 42 ranked Carla Tur Mari, but eventually dropped the set in a tiebreaker 7-6(1) and then the second set 6-3.
Junior Natalie Suk lost her match at No. 2 singles to No. 56 Katarina Adamovic 6-3, 6-3 to make it 3-0 OSU.
Senior Zalina Khairudinova, junior Arianne Hartono and freshman Alexa Bortles all won their first sets, but the Cowgirls rallied to force third sets on all three. Khairudinova won her first set 6-3 against Aliona Bolsova and then had a match point in the second, but couldn't convert and ended up going to a third. Freshman Anna Vrbenska rallied to force a third set against No. 33 Vladica Babic at No. 3 singles.
With Khairudinova up a break in the third at No. 4 singles and both Bortles and Vrbenska battling in their third sets, No. 10 Viktoriya Lushkova closed out No. 58 Hartono 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 to clinch the win for OSU.
At the net…
• The Rebels are now 6-1 on the year
• Oklahoma State now leads the series 6-1
• The Rebels dropped the doubles point for the first time this season
• Tea Jandric lost her first dual match this year after starting out 5-0
Complete results
Doubles
1. #5 Babic/Turi Mari (OSU) def. #33 Hartono/Vrbenska (OM) 6-2
2. Bolsova/Blanco (OSU) def. Bortles/ Suk (OM) 6-3
3. Khairudinova/Jandric (OM) vs. Lushkova/Adamovic (OSU) 3-5, sus.
Order of Finish: 1, 2
Singles
1. #10 Viktoriya Lushkova (OSU) def. #31 Arianne Hartono 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
2. #56 Katarina Adamovic (OSU) def. Natalie Suk (OM) 6-3, 6-3
3. Anna Vrbenska (OM) vs. #33 Vladica Babic (OSU) 4-6, 6-4, 3-4, sus.
4. Zalina Khairudinova (OM) vs. Aliona Bolsova (OSU) 6-3, 5-7, 4-1, sus.
5. #42 Carla Tur Mari (OSU) def. Tea Jandric (OM) 7-6(1), 6-3
6. Alexa Bortles (OM) vs. #86 Lena Ruppert (OSU) 7-6(5), 1-6, 0-1, sus.
Order of Finish: 2, 5, 1
Thoughts from head coach Mark Beyers…
"Overall I thought it was a good match. Every singles match was very close. We won three first sets, as did they. We needed a couple more of those close sets to go our way. Tea had a set point in the first set, Z had a match point. We definitely had our opportunities. Hopefully we can build on this and play even better tomorrow."
Up next…
Ole Miss will play in the back draw Saturday. The consolation draw will be done following the conclusion of the first round of play.
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. Also follow Coach Beyers on Twitter, @MarkBeyers.
Players Mentioned
