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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Tennis Ready for Big Home Weekend
3/29/2017 | Women's Tennis
Live Video/Scoring
OXFORD, Miss. - With just three weeks left in the regular season there are 13 women's tennis teams from the Southeastern Conference in the top 40 RPI, including Ole Miss. The Rebels will welcome No. 19 LSU and No. 25 Texas A&M to the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center this weekend.
First up is a rematch with the Tigers Friday at 1 p.m. and then Sunday the Aggies come calling at 1 p.m. Admission to both matches is free.
Promotions...
Fans will enjoy free crawfish at Friday's match and free Sundaes on Sunday.
Last time out...
Ole Miss suffered two tough losses last weekend at No. 3 Georgia (4-2) and No. 23 Tennessee (4-3). The Rebels hung with the Bulldogs and were serving for the match at No. 5 singles when Georgia finished off the win 6-4 in the third at No. 3 singles. Sunday, the Rebels rallied from dropping the doubles point to tie the overall match at 3-3. The Rebels served for it at No. 3 singles, but Tennessee came back to take it 7-5 in the third set.
What to watch for...
This will be the second meeting this year between Ole Miss and LSU. The Rebels defeated the Tigers 4-2 in the championship match of the ITA Kick Off. The top two singles matches will feature ranked players going against each other.
Scouting LSU...
LSU improved to 12-4 (5-2 SEC) on the season with a win over No. 20 Texas A&M last Saturday. The Tigers' 5-2 conference start is the team's best in 20 seasons. LSU is led by freshman Jade Lewis, who is ranked No. 30 with a 12-1 overall record, 11-1 at No. 1 singles. Senior Joana Valle Costa is ranked No. 86 in singles and junior Ryann Foster is ranked No. 105.
Rebels and the Tigers...
Ole Miss leads the series with LSU 28-16 and has won four of the last six meetings, including a 4-2 win earlier this year at the ITA Kick Off in Charlottesville, Virginia. LSU rallied to beat the Rebels last year in Baton Rouge 4-3.
Scouting Texas A&M...
Texas A&M comes into the weekend at 10-9 overall, 2-5 in the SEC. They are coming off consecutive losses at No. 15 Baylor and No. 19 LSU. Rachel Pierson, No. 39 in the ITA singles rankings, leads A&M with a 19-10 overall record, while 91st-ranked Rutuja Bhosale leads the Aggies in dual matches only with a 10-7 singles mark. Pierson and Bhosale are No. 12 in doubles and are riding a four-match win streak.
Rebels and the Aggies...
Texas A&M leads the all-time series against Ole Miss 6-1, including a 4-3 win last year in College Station.
Rebels in the Rankings...
In this week's Oracle/ITA Rankings, the Rebels are ranked No. 28. Junior Arianne Hartono is ranked No. 71 in singles in the latest ITA Rankings and No. 27 in doubles with freshman Anna Vrbenska. Junior Natalie Suk is ranked No. 82 in singles.
Beyers closing in on milestone win...
Head coach Mark Beyers is closing in on his 200th victory at Ole Miss and his 250th overall. He currently has 199 at Ole Miss and needs one to become the second coach in program history to achieve 200 wins.
Thoughts from head coach Mark Beyers...
"It's exciting to be at home again. We get to travel in style, but to be able to sleep in your own bed and play in front of your own fans, there's nothing better than that. Two great teams, two more top 25 teams. It's no different than the previous weekends. We expect both to be close matches. We are battling in every match and the energy is good; we just have to do a better job of closing out matches.
"The girls have responded and we've had a good week of practice. Everybody is looking forward and excited to play in front of the home crowd. The weather looks great and we have crawfish. We love doing that for the fans. We had a great crowd last year when we had crawfish, and we are looking forward to another great crowd Friday. Fill up on some crawfish and tennis before you go watch baseball, and we'll both try to get some wins this weekend."
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.
