The Ole Miss Rebels’ women’s tennis team took on Arkansas State in a doubleheader match on Tuesday, and one match was over before it started.
In the first match, the Rebels jumped on the Red Wolves quickly. Ole Miss won the doubles point with doubles wins on both the first and second courts by scores of 6-4 and 6-1.
The Rebels didn’t let up as they went on to win the singles points in impressive fashion. Ole Miss earned wins on singles courts one through three. The finish order was court two, three, and one, with scores of 6-2 6-0, 6-0 6-2 and 6-2 6-1 respectively.
(Photo by: Evan Turner)
Freshman Allie Sanford hits a backhand during her doubles match against Georgia earlier this season.
Arianne Hartono, ranked No. 22 nationally, dominated the court. Her first serves were effective. With her victory over Arkansas State’s Julie Gauguery, Hartono notched her 20th victory of the season and improved to to 20-9 overall and 13-3 when playing at number one singles.
With victories on the first three singles courts, the Rebels sealed the win by a score of 4-0. In the second match of the day, the Rebels and the Red Wolves decided not to start off with doubles, but instead opted to begin the match with singles.
The domination of Arkansas State in the first match spilled over into the second match. Ole Miss won the singles matches on courts two, six, three and four in that order. Natalie Suk of Ole Miss broke the game open by winning on court two by a score of 6-2, 6-0.
Suk played extremely well in both sets as she gave the Rebels a 1-0 lead. Ole Miss quickly finished up on other courts and won the match by an overall score of 4-0.
After Tuesday’s matches the Rebels improved to 11-9 overall and are ranked 47th in the nation. Zalina Khairudinova and Marija Milutinovic improved their doubles record to 7-3 on the year.
Head Coach Mark Beyers said he was pleased with his team’s performance on the day.
“They took care of business pretty quickly, and that’s what you want,” Beyers said. “You want them to stay focused get a win and get ready for the next match. We accomplished what we needed to do today. Now we move on and try to win a couple of matches on the road in the SEC this weekend.”
The Rebels get back into conference play this weekend with a road trip to Arkansas on Thursday and Missouri on Saturday. Both of those matches will be important for the Rebels’ standings in the upcoming SEC tournament.
