The University of Mississippi Athletics
Women's Tennis Ready for SEC Tournament
4/18/2017 | Women's Tennis
SEC Tournament Central | SEC Tournament Bracket
OXFORD, Miss. - In what is considered the toughest tournament outside of the NCAA Championships this year, the Ole Miss women's tennis team is in Nashville, Tennessee for the Southeastern Conference Championship hosted by Vanderbilt April 19-23 at the Currey Tennis Center.
With 13 teams in the top 40 RPI, and 11 ranked in the latest Top 25, this week figures to be the perfect prelude to the NCAAs. The Rebels are seeded No. 12 and will face the No. 13 seed, Missouri, in the first round, Wednesday at 1 p.m.
What to watch for…
This will be the first meeting between Ole Miss and Missouri in the SEC Tournament. Freshman Anna Vrbenska has won five in a row and 10 of her last 11 completed matches. She finished 8-1 in the SEC and needs just two wins to reach 20 this year. The No. 1 doubles teams for both the Rebels and Tigers are nationally ranked.
Rebels at SEC Championship…
Ole Miss defeated Tennessee last year 4-3 in the first round of the SEC Championship and then lost to South Carolina in the second round.
Last time out…
The Rebels lost a heartbreaker in their final regular season match, 4-3, to No. 20 Mississippi State. After dropping the doubles point, the Rebels rallied to tie it at 3-3, before State won the final match at No. 2 singles.
Scouting Missouri…
Missouri earned the No. 13 seed with a 11-13 overall record, 2-10 in the SEC. The Tigers edged Alabama 4-3 in their last regular season match this past weekend. Missouri is led by the No. 17 ranked doubles pair of senior Bea Machado Santos and junior Amina Ismail, who own a 6-2 record at No. 1 doubles.
Rebels and Tigers…
Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Missouri 3-1 including a 4-1 win earlier this year in Oxford. The Tigers won a tight doubles point, but the Rebels rallied to earn four singles wins from Anna Vrbenska on court four, Arianne Hartono on court one, Alexa Bortles on court six and the clincher from Natalie Suk on court two.
Winner gets…
The winner of this match will face the No. 5 seed, Kentucky, in the second round, Thursday at 6 p.m.
Rebels in the rankings…
The Rebels are ranked No. 29 in this week's Oracle/ITA Rankings. Junior Arianne Hartono is ranked No. 33 in singles and Natalie Suk is ranked No. 78. In doubles Hartono is ranked No. 22 in doubles with Anna Vrbenska and No. 47 with current partner Alexa Bortles.
Thoughts from Head Coach Mark Beyers…
"We are really looking forward to the SEC Tournament. This conference is so unbelievably strong right now. It gives us a great opportunity to pick up some highly ranked wins to improve our RPI and help our cause of being a higher seed at the NCAA Tournament in a few weeks. Even though we lost 4-3 the other day, I felt there were a lot of positives to be taken from that match, which we can take into the Missouri match on Wednesday."
Follow the action…
The SEC Championship will have live scoring and fans can also follow the action on Twitter, @SECWTennis.
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
