Thursday, 10/18/2012

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss women’s tennis team hits Tuscaloosa, Ala., this weekend for the USTA/ITA Southern Regional, a four-day event at the Alabama Tennis Stadium on the campus of the University of Alabama.

The Southern Regional, which runs Friday through Monday, features teams from the states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.  SEC opponents Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State will be among the schools that will challenge for the individual singles and doubles titles in Tuscaloosa. 

Singles and doubles winners will earn direct entry into the ITA National Indoor Championships in November.

“This is a tournament where historically we’ve done well, and we are looking forward to continuing that success,” head coach Mark Beyers said.  “We’ll have a strong contingent playing singles and doubles.   The tournament will feature some other SEC schools but also some smaller schools who have great programs, so it will definitely be a challenge and a good test for us.  Since the All-American and the last tournament in Tuscaloosa, we’ve had some great practices.  We are looking forward to seeing the players do that in match play.”

Caroline Rohde-Moe will lead the Rebels in Tuscaloosa.  The junior is ranked No. 55 in the nation and is fresh off competing in the qualifying round of the Riviera All-American Championships.  Junior Vief Vlaar, sophomores Julia Jones, Iris Verboven and Paige Keating and freshmen Marija Milutinovic and Allie Robbins will also compete for the Rebels.

The Southern Regional has been a successful event for the Rebels the last few years.  Former All-American Kristi Boxx took home the 2011 singles title and teamed with former All-American Karen Nijssen to win the 2009 doubles title.  The Rebels also had success in 2010, with former two-time All-SEC nominee Connor Vogel reaching the singles final and Boxx and Abby Guthrie reaching the doubles final.