The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Go 2-0 on Day Two of NCAA Individuals
5/24/2018 | Women's Tennis
Tournament Central
WINSTON SALEM, N.C. - An outstanding season for Ole Miss women's tennis senior Arianne Hartono will continue, as she dominated her opponent to advance to the third round of the NCAA Singles Championship Thursday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
Later in the afternoon, Hartono teamed up with sophomore Alexa Bortles and they won in straight sets to advance to the round of 16 in doubles.
After grinding out a tough win in the first round against the nation's No. 20 ranked player, Sixth-seeded Hartono needed just a little over an hour to cruise to a 6-0, 6-2 win against Washington's Vanessa Wong.
With the win, Hartono improved to 33-6 overall and moved into a tie for seventh in wins for a single season at Ole Miss. She has now won 13 straight with her last loss coming on March 17.
Hartono got the first break of the match and led 3-0 on her way to a 6-0 first set. She broke to start the second set as well, and never let Wong back in the match, winning it 6-2 to advance to the round of 16 for the second time in her career.
After a break between her singles and doubles, Hartono and Bortles came out and won a huge first set tiebreaker against Fresno State's Georgia Lawson and Emma Wilson. At 2-2, both teams traded breaks all the way to 6-6. Hartono and Bortles dropped the first two points of the breaker, but then won three straight to take a 3-2 lead. At 4-4, the All-American duo own the final three points for 7-6(4).
Hartono and Bortles carried the momentum into the second set where they jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back, winning it 6-0 to improve to 23-12 overall.
Courtside with Head Coach Mark Beyers…
"Good day for the Rebs! At this stage of the season, it's always nice to get a quick win, and Ari was able to get off the court in an hour. Ari and Alexa struggled a bit in the first set of doubles, but they were able to break back a few times and pull out a tiebreak. They lifted their level in the second set to win a lot more comfortably. Tomorrow will continue to get tougher as we are getting down to some of the very best players in the country."
Next up…
Hartono will face Georgia Tech's Paige Hourigan [9-16] in the round of 16 Friday at 9 a.m., CT. In doubles, Hartono and Bortles will meet Jessica Golovin and Eden Richardson of LSU in the round of 16.
For more information on Ole Miss Women's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter @OleMissWTennis, on Facebook at OleMissWTennis and on Instagram at OleMissWTennis. Also follow Coach Beyers on Twitter, @MarkBeyers.
