Rebels Set To Face Oklahoma In ITA Kickoff First Round Saturday
The No. 35 ranked Ole Miss women’s tennis team posted a 7-0 shutout against Jackson State in the 2014 season opener here Wednesday at the Gillom Sports Center. The Rebels will now turn their attention to the ITA Kickoff Weekend and a big match against Oklahoma.
“It’s always good to get the butterflies out with the first match of the year,” head coach Mark Beyers said. “We had good preparation in Michigan this past weekend. We played pretty well at some spots, and most of all, nobody got hurt. We are better now than we were last week, and that’s important.”
The Rebels started the day by taking all three doubles matches, dropping only two games total in the experimental format of playing to six games with a tiebreaker at 6 all. In singles, the Rebels won quickly at the top three spots to close out the Tigers.
Freshman Zalina Khairudinova made her debut for the home crowd, and she didn’t disappoint, posting a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles. Afterwards, she talked about her first matches last weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich., and her first dual match.
“I played pretty solid for my first match, and I am happy I won. I was really excited to play here today, since I haven’t played in a long time [before last weekend]. The first match [in Michigan] was tough, because I didn’t have a lot of time to practice. I arrived back from Kazakhstan in time to leave and it was a 12-hour time difference, so that made it a little tougher.
Khairudinova also talked about the level of tennis in college compared what she saw before coming to Ole Miss. “There is not that big of a difference from college tennis to pro tennis, mainly at the lower level tournaments. The girls in college are really good.”
The Rebels will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., this weekend for the ITA Kickoff where they will face Oklahoma Saturday at 2 p.m. in the first round. The winner of that match will face the winner of the Alabama/William & Mary match Sunday for a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Feb. 7-10.
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#35 Ole Miss 7
Jackson State 0
Doubles
1. Rohde-Moe/Milutinovic (OM) def. Jayapalan/Condorelli (JSU) 6-2
2. Stephens/Verboven (OM) def. Angerman/Zviahintseva (JSU) 6-0
3. Khairudinova/Jones (OM) def. Reddy/Anath (JSU) 6-0
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. Caroline Rohde-Moe (OM) def. Anastaslia Zviahintseva (JSU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Zalina Khairudinova (OM) def. Harshini Reddy (JSU) 6-0, 6-1
3. Julia Jones (OM) def. Julie Angerman (JSU) 6-0, 6-1
4. Erin Stephens (OM) def. Akshatha Ananth (JSU) 6-3, 6-0
5. Marija Milutinovic (OM) def. Kesica Jayapalan (JSU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Iris Verboven (OM) def. Angela Condorelli (JSU) 6-3, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6
— Ole Miss Sports Information
OM Women’s Tennis Shuts Out Jackson State To Open Season
