OXFORD, Miss. - In their home opener, the No. 25 ranked Ole Miss women's tennis team swept a doubleheader against Jackson State Saturday at the Gillom Sports Center to improve to 4-0 on the season.
In the first match, the Rebels won the doubles point without dropping a game. Jackson State only had five players available, so Ole Miss got the No. 3 match by default. At No. 1,
Erin Stephens and
Iris Verboven improved to 9-4 overall, 3-0 at No. 1 with a 6-0 win. At No. 2 doubles,
Zalina Khairudinova and
Mai El Kamash won 6-0.
The Rebels only dropped 11 games in the five singles matches played, including shutouts from
Marija Milutinovic at No. 5 and El Kamash at No. 2.
In the second match, head coach
Mark Beyers changed up the lineup a bit and the results were the same.
Senior
Julia Jones and freshman
Natalie Suk posted a 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles to clinch the point. Up 2-0 since JSU only had five players, it didn't take long to get the second win of the day. JSU's Daria Butorina was no match for the nation's 20th-ranked player, as Jones won 6-0, 6-1 to make it 3-0. Khairudinova won her match 6-1, 6-1 over Anastasia Zvyahintseya to clinch the victory.
"The girls did a good job of taking care of business," Beyers said. "We challenged them at the beginning of the match to not only win it, but to get better. We wanted them to work on discipline with targets, discipline with putting balls away and staying focused. I thought they did a good job of that. We were able to win two matches but more importantly, we are a better team than we were at 11 a.m."
The Rebels hit the road for their next three matches, beginning with No. 19 Oklahoma State Saturday, Jan. 31.
For more information on Ole Miss Women's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at
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