No. 43 MSU Women?s Tennis Closes Regular Season At No. 25 Ole Miss
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The 43rd-ranked Mississippi State women’s tennis team will conclude its 2015 regular season slate on the road Saturday, traveling to No. 25 Ole Miss. Match time for the in-state rivalry battle is slated for a 1 p.m. CT start at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center in Oxford, Miss. Live stats will be provided by olemisssports.com.
Despite falling to unranked Tennessee and No. 5 Georgia last weekend, the Bulldogs (14-9, 4-8 SEC) moved up a spot in the latest ITA team rankings, going from the previous ranking of No. 44 to No. 43 in the nation. With 14 wins, the Bulldogs have earned the most wins in a single season since 1988, when MSU won 13 matches. State will be looking for its 15th win of the season on Saturday, which would be the first time that the Bulldogs have earned 15 victories since the 1987 dual match season.
State also features two players ranked in singles, including sophomore Jasmine Lee. At 14-5, Lee is up to a ranking of 40th nationally and leads the team in dual match victories, while anchoring the top position of the Bulldog lineup. Behind her at No. 2 is junior and 114th-ranked Georgiana Patrasc, who has earned a 13-9 dual match record so far this season, while collecting 21 overall victories.
Sophomore Martina Frantova and freshman Louise Ronaldson have rotated between the third and fourth positions for most of SEC play and both players have earned four SEC victories on the season. Freshman Jennifer Brown has played well at the No. 5 position, earning a 12-7 dual match record. Both freshmen, Brown and Ronaldson, have also earned 18 overall victories in singles play this season.
Rounding out the singles lineup for the Bulldogs is sophomore Timea Guibe, who has earned a 13-4 dual match mark this season, including nine wins at the No. 6 position. With her win last Friday against Tennessee’s Tiffany Tavares, Guibe earned her 18th overall win of the season, surpassing last season’s total of 17.
MSU is also represented in this week’s doubles rankings, with the duo of Lee and Patrasc being ranked at No. 81. The Bulldogs have shifted around the doubles lineup over the past two weeks, which has resulted in a 3-0 record so far at the No. 2 position for Lee and Ronaldson.
Ole Miss enters the weekend at 13-9 overall and 4-8 in the SEC. Ranked at No. 25 nationally, the Rebels are coming off of two consecutive victories at Tennessee and against Arkansas-Pine Bluff earlier in the week. Ole Miss has three players represented in the ITA singles rankings, led by 12th-ranked Julia Jones. Jones, a senior, earned her 100th career victory against UAPB on Monday and is 17-4 in dual matches this season. Jones has anchored the No. 1 position for the Rebels all season and is also 8-3 in SEC play. The freshman pair of Arianne Hartono and Natalie Suk round out the rankings for the Rebels, with both players coming in at 65th and 125th, respectfully. Hartono has earned a 9-5 mark at the No. 2 position, while Suk is 8-4 at the No. 4 slot and 6-3 in the SEC.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateWT.