The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Arkansas
No. 20 Rebels Fall to No. 15 Arkansas
3/17/2017 | Women's Tennis
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 20 ranked Ole Miss women's tennis team had multiple chances to get the doubles point, but No. 15 Arkansas rallied to take the point and carried the momentum into singles on their way to a 4-0 win at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center Friday.
After Zalina Khairudinova and Tea Jandric picked up a 6-4 win on court three, all eyes focused on the top two courts, where the Rebels were in position to capture the early lead. Arianne Hartono and Anna Vrbenska had two match points at No. 1 doubles, but Arkansas' Shannon Hudson and Giulia Pairone rallied to win that match 7-5. Over on court two, Natalie Suk and Alexa Bortles had 0-40 to break at 5-5, but the Razorback duo of Ana Oparenovic and Mia Jurasic came all the way back. The match eventually went to a tiebreaker, with the Rebels holding two match points at 6-4, and then again at 7-6 and 8-7, before the Arkansas duo won the final three points to clinch it 7-6(8) and the point.
Arkansas carried the momentum into singles capturing three first sets and ultimately gaining straight set wins on courts three, four and five to close out the Rebels.
When play was stopped, Hartono was up a set and 5-4 at No. 1, Suk was up a set and 5-5 in the second at No. 2, and Bortles had just split at six.
At the net...
• The Rebels are now 10-5 on the year, 1-3 in the SEC
• Arkansas snapped a two-match losing streak to the Rebels
• Ole Miss dropped the doubles point for only the fourth time in 15 matches
• Freshman Anna Vrbenska had her five-match winning streak snapped
• Vrbenska suffered her first SEC loss and is now 13-7 overall, 3-1 in the SEC
Complete results
Doubles
1. Hudson/Pairone (AR) def. #33 Hartono/Vrbenska (OM) 7-5
2. Oparenovic/Jurasic (AR) def. Suk/Bortles (OM) 7-6(8)
3. Khairudinova/Jandric (OM) def. Jeanjean/Arakawa (AR) 6-4
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. #47 Arianne Hartono (OM) vs. #64 Shannon Hudson (AR) 6-2, 5-4, sus.
2. Natalie Suk (OM) vs. #118 Ana Oparenovic (AR) 7-5, 5-5, sus.
3. Leolia Jeanjean (AR) def. Zalina Khairudinova (OM) 6-4, 6-3
4. Mia Jurasic (AR) def. Anna Vrbenska (OM) 6-2, 6-1
5. Giulia Pairone (AR) def. Tea Jandric (OM) 6-3, 6-2
6. Alexa Bortles (OM) vs. Natsuho Arakawa (AR) 7-5, 2-6, sus.
Order of Finish: 4, 5, 3,
Thoughts from head coach Mark Beyers...
"Really tough to lose that doubles point after having multiple match points at both one and two. That was a big momentum change, it set the tone for them in singles. Some of our girls responded today in singles and some didn't. That's disappointing, and we talked about it afterwards, about how to handle adversity. Credit to Arkansas for hanging around in the doubles. They were a little fortunate to win the point and then they took the momentum into singles. This match had 4-3 written all over it, but the fact that we lost the doubles and weren't able to finish some of the singles matches, it looks more lopsided than it was."
On staying focused and rebounding during matches
"Even when you lose a doubles point like that, you have to battle and keep fighting on every single point. There were some lags where we let frustration take over and kept thinking back to the doubles point. You can't get that point back, you just have to keep battling. Even with that, Ari was about to win, Nat has match points and Alexa wins the first set. We were in matches and I still felt like we could get four singles wins."
On getting ready for Missouri
"We have to come back to practice tomorrow and learn from this and try to get better. When you have an entire season, it's like a roller coaster with ups and downs. This was a tough one, but we have to find a way to rebound on Sunday and get a split on the weekend."
Up next...
The Rebels welcome Missouri Sunday at 1 p.m. Fans will enjoy free Sundaes.
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
