The Ole Miss women’s tennis team earned its sixth consecutive and 17th overall NCAA Championship bid and will travel to Los Angeles for the first and second rounds. The Rebels will face Texas Tech in the first round Friday, May 9 at 12 p.m. CT.
The hosts of the championship, the Bruins of UCLA will meet Sacramento State in the other first round match. The winners will play Saturday, May 10 at 5 p.m. CT for the right to advance to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen May 16-21 in Athens, Ga.
“It’s exciting to go somewhere besides Georgia Tech,” said head coach Mark Beyers, jokingly referring to his team’s three straight NCAA trips to Atlanta from 2009-11. “We are proud of the girls; they’ve worked really hard this year. They definitely earned this NCAA bid.”
Ole Miss finished the regular season with a 13-9 overall record. The Rebels are led by junior Julia Jones, who earned All-SEC second team honors last week. The St. Petersburg, Fla., native posted a 26-10 overall record, 15-6 in dual matches. She went 8-5 in the SEC in singles and 7-3 in doubles. In her 26 wins, Jones has not dropped a set.
“We are excited to go to Los Angeles and play Texas Tech,” said junior Iris Verboven, who owns an 8-3 record at No. 6 singles this year for the Rebels. “We went there last year (for NCAAs), but we didn’t play Texas Tech. We’ve had some good practices since the SEC Tournament, and we are looking forward to playing again.”
Texas Tech, ranked No. 30 in the nation, finished the regular season with a 17-8 overall record. The Lady Raiders upset No. 18 Oklahoma at the Big 12 Championships. Lynn Kiro (28-6), Nikki Sanders (26-10) and Samantha Adams (22-11) have each won 20 matches this season to pace Texas Tech. Kiro is currently riding a 15-match winning streak.
