Women’s tennis coasts to two wins over Alcorn State

The Ole Miss Women’s Tennis team enjoyed a two-match sweep when Alcorn State visited Oxford on Wednesday.

The Rebels had no problems with the Braves and took both midweek matches 4-0.

Alcorn State entered the contest 1-10 on the season, while Ole Miss was coming off their first win of the season, a 5-2 victory over Tulane on Sunday behind Alexa Bortles, Tea Jandric and Sabina Machalova.

The Rebels pushed their overall record to 3-2 after handling the Braves at the Galtney Indoor Tennis Center.

The Rebels got off to a hot start and never let their foot off the gas. The duo of Tereza Janatova and Allie Sanford won 6-0 swiftly, while Bortles and Cameron Kriscunas won 6-1, securing the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. Machalova and Jandric weren’t far behind with a 5-1 lead when the point was clinched.

Ole Miss’s dominance continued in the singles round. Kriscunas struck first, giving the Rebels a 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-0 victory in just 15 minutes. Both Bortles and Jandric won their singles matches 6-0, 6-1, giving the Rebels the first win of the day.

The second match followed immediately after, going straight into singles play. Sanford finished first, winning her match in straight sets. Janatova finished second winning 6-2, 6-0. Bortles notched another victory, winning 6-1, 6-0 and Machalova rounded off the win with a 6-3, 6-0 victory in the first singles lot.

Bortles, Janatova and Kriscunas all extended their singles-match winning streaks on Wednesday. Bortles and Janatova both have four straight victories, and Kriscunas has three.

The two victories were a final test before a gauntlet of tough matches in the next two weeks.

The Rebels are now on a three-win streak going into their final non-conference matchup before their March 1 date with Florida.

Ole Miss will stay in Galtney Indoor Tennis Center to face No. 21 Central Florida on Sunday at 11 a.m. After that, the SEC slate begins when the Rebels travel to Gainesville, Florida, and Columbia, South Carolina, to take on the Gators and the Gamecocks in their first matches away from home this season.

The Rebels were chosen to finish No. 5 in the conference in the coaches’ preseason poll, and they’ll face the two teams picked to finish No. 3 and No. 4 at the very beginning of conference play.

They’ll have 13 conference matches to earn a spot in the SEC Championships held in College Station, Texas, from April 17-21.