Ruby DraayerOle Miss men’s tennis will look to take on Mississippi State at home this weekend while the women’s team will face off against Florida at home on Thursday and South Carolina on Saturday.
The men’s team is coming off of a nail-biting win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Rebels outlasted the Cowboys with a narrow 4-3 win, and UM improved to 7-7 on the season and 4-3 in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
The Rebels kicked things off Sunday losing in doubles, 2-1. No. 7 duo Finn Reynolds and Tim Sandkaulen were able to win the first match, but Oklahoma State was able to win the second over senior Brady Draheim and junior Simon Junk. Ole Miss ended up losing the final match 7-6.
Reynolds and Sandkaulen were ranked as the top tennis pair in college tennis this week. The duo has won eight of their last 10 matches, and have only lost one match to a ranked opponent this season. The pair moved from No. 7 to No. 1 after their performance in Tulsa.
The Rebels are now in the ITA top-10 team rankings at No. 9. The team moved up nine spots from their previous No. 18 rankings. This marks the first time this season the Rebels have cracked the top-10.
The Rebels won only four of six singles matches versus the Cowboys. Ole Miss will have another big challenge on their hands as they look to take on Mississippi State, who is ranked No. 11 in the country.
The Bulldogs will be looking for their sixth 7-0 sweep of the season. In their last match against UAB, the Bulldogs dropped only one match.
Meanwhile, the women’s tennis team had no problem sweeping the Auburn Tigers 4-0. After dropping their first three of four matches, the Rebels have been able to recover with three consecutive wins.
No. 30 Ole Miss handed No. 18 Auburn their first home loss of the season, after easily winning doubles to start off. The Rebels swept Auburn in doubles with an easy 6-0 win. Auburn struggled to find their groove and was unable to keep up with Ole Miss.
Florida is currently ranked No. 24 nationally. Sara Dahlstrom from Florida will be coming off of her first SEC Freshman of the Week accolade after two singles wins against Missouri. Ole Miss will have No. 39 Sabina Machalova in singles, and two ranked doubles duos in No. 24 Machalova and Alexa Bortles and No. 44 Anna Vrbenska and Tereza Janatova. Senior Janatova has an 8-1 record in her dual match play.
Florida will be particularly dominant in doubles play, after winning five of their six matches.
For the men, the match against Mississippi State is set for 1 p.m. Sunday, March 28. For the women, the Thursday match against Florida starts at 5:00 p.m. with the game against South Carolina starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
