NewsDesk
The Ole Miss men’s and women’s tennis teams are gearing up for their weekend matches. The women are set to play North Alabama at home, and the men will travel to Stillwater, Okla., to play against Oklahoma State. This will mark the women’s fifth game of the spring season, while the men are headed to their sixth.
Both the men’s and women’s teams landed in the top-25 rankings after the first weekend of the 2021 spring season. The women sat at No. 23 and the men at No. 17. The newest rankings that came out on Feb. 4 moved the Rebel men to No. 20 three days after their 4-3 loss to Memphis.
Meanwhile, the women’s team is coming off a 4-3 win against Memphis on Feb. 2 and is preparing for the North Alabama Lions, who have an overall record of 1-3. The Rebels swept Memphis in doubles with duos such as No. 24 Alexa Bortles and Sabina Machalova, No. 44 Tereza Janatova and Anna Vrbenska, and Tiphanie Fiquet and Elysia Pool conquering the victories over the Tigers. In singles, sophomore Kelsey Mize secured the win for the Rebels as she won the third and final set 6-3, pushing the Rebels to the top.
The last time the North Alabama Lions and the Rebels faced off was on Feb. 8 when the Rebels gave the Lions a tough 7-0 loss. The Rebels currently sit with an overall record of 2-2.
While the women placed a win on the record, the men suffered a loss to TCU last week, falling 4-3 in a competitive match. The Horned Frogs took the win after senior Finn Reynolds lost in the final set 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-1 in the singles matches.
The Rebel men are now 1-4 on the season and are preparing for the match-up against nationally ranked No. 15 Oklahoma State. The Oklahoma State Cowboys are currently 2-0 as several of their games set for earlier in the season were canceled or postponed to a later date. The wins for the Cowboys resulted from their matches against Wichita State and Tulsa.
The Rebels were on track for a great 2019-2020 season, and after the season cutoff due to COVID-19, the overall record for the Rebels was 10-4. The Rebels faced the Cowboys on Jan. 31 last season, winning 4-2 after junior Jan Soren Hain delivered a comeback win for the Rebels.
