The University of Mississippi Athletics
No. 6 Women's Tennis Set to Begin SEC Tournament
4/18/2018 | Women's Tennis
SEC Notes | SEC Bracket | Live Scoring | SEC Tournament Central
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 6 Ole Miss women's tennis team ended the regular season on a seven-match win streak and carries that momentum into the SEC Tournament, where they are set to face the No. 12 seed, Tennessee, in the second round Thursday.
The Rebels (18-5) and the Lady Vols (18-10) will square off at 5 p.m. CT Thursday from the Barksdale Tennis Stadium. For anyone planning to attend the SEC Tournament, the Clear-Bag Policy will be enforced.
Follow Along…
Fans can follow the Rebels throughout the tournament with live scoring and live streaming. The links for live streaming will be available at the time of the match on Twitter. Follow @OleMissWTennis and @SECWTennis for updates.
Last Time Out…
In their last action, Ole Miss defeated Mississippi State 4-1 in Starkville to conclude the regular season. The Rebels won the doubles point and then picked up singles wins from Arianne Hartono, Sabina Machalova and Tea Jandric on the top three courts to close out the Bulldogs.
Ole Miss at the SEC Tournament…
Ole Miss has reached at least the quarterfinals 20 times and the semifinals 10 times at the SEC Tournament. In 1999, as the No. 3 seed, the Rebels knocked off the No. 2 seed, Georgia (5-4), and then upset the No. 1 seed, Florida (5-4), to win their first SEC Tournament Championship.
Last Year at SECs…
At least year's SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, Ole Miss defeated Missouri 4-2 in the first round and then dropped a close 4-3 match to the No. 5 seed, Kentucky.
Scouting Tennessee…
Tennessee improved to 18-10 with a very close 4-1 win against the No. 13 seed Alabama, in the first round Wednesday. The match was much closer than the final score, with five of the singles matches going three sets after the Lady Vols had taken the doubles point and all six first sets. Tennessee's Johanna Silva pulled out the match at No. 6, 7-5 in the third to clinch, as Alabama led 5-0 in the third on court two and 4-3 in the third on court one.
Rebels vs. Lady Vols…
Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Tennessee 26-20 and has won five of the last six meetings, including a 4-0 win earlier this year on April 7.
The Winner Gets…
The winner of this match will face the No. 4 seed, Georgia, Friday at 5 p.m. CT. In their previous meeting, the Rebels defeated the Bulldogs 4-3 in Oxford on April 5.
Rebels in the Rankings…
In the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings, the Rebels are ranked No. 6, their 14th straight week in the top 25. The Rebels are one of five SEC teams in the top 10 and seven in the top 25. Individually, Arianne Hartono is ranked No. 13 in singles and No. 5 in doubles with Alexa Bortles. Sabina Machalova is ranked No. 77 in singles.
Courtside with Head Coach Mark Beyers
"There is no easy matches in the SEC, whether you're playing the 6 seed or the 10 seed. They're all capable of beating top 20 ranked teams. We are excited and ready to continue our momentum of winning seven straight SEC matches and see how far we take it this week."
On success away from Oxford…
"Obviously we love playing in front of our fans, but we've done well away from Oxford. We're pretty confident right now, we've played good doubles as of late and been able to get to four points in seven straight SEC matches. Like I said earlier, I don't think we're intimidated by anyone. Whether their the No. 1 seed or the No. 12 seed, anybody can beat anybody on a given day in this league. We have to be ready to play on Thursday."
Senior Arianne Hartono…
"Beating them in the regular season was exciting, but it's a new match. Certainly we can take from the last match the things that we did well and try to do the same things. Most importantly, if we focus on ourselves and take care of business, I believe we can beat any team in the country."
On momentum going into tournament…
"We have a team Facebook page, and either me or Natalie always puts in a motivational quote. What I wrote this time, is 'I believe in every one of us, and I know that we can take it all the way and win the championship as long as we believe in each other, keep working and compete as hard as we can.'"
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
