No. 24 women's tennis continues home stand with pair of matches this weekend

The No. 24 ranked Ole Miss women’s tennis team will host Southern Miss and No. 19 Tulsa in a patch of matches at the newly renovated Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center, weather permitting. The Rebels (5-4) continue a three-game home stand, which started with a 6-1 win against No. 57 SMU this past Saturday.

“This is a big weekend for us,” head coach Mark Beyers said. “We have two good matches, especially the one against Tulsa. They’re ranked in the top 20 and that’s where we want to be. It’s a good measuring stick for us. These are the kind of matches that if we want to get into the top 20 and in the conversation of hosting NCAA Regionals, we have to win them. It’s a great challenge for our team, and we are looking forward to it.”

The match against Tulsa will be the Rebels fifth match against a top-25 opponent this season. Tulsa comes into Oxford with a 6-1 record, led by sophomore Samantha Vickers, who is ranked No. 61 in singles with a 17-3 overall record.

“We saw them this fall at a tournament, and they are a good team, well coached,” Beyers said. “They play good doubles and they’re strong from top to bottom. It’s going to be a tough match, a battle. We’re going to have to play good tennis to beat them.”

Erin Stephens earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors after she rallied to defeat SMU’s Elena Fayner at No. 3 singles to put the Rebels up 3-1 in the match. After dropping the first set, Stephens won 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. She also paired with senior Gabby Rangel for an 8-1 at No. 2 doubles.

“It’s great for her,” Beyers said. “Playing (No. 3 singles) as a freshman against the teams that we’ve played is rough. From a win-loss standpoint, it looked like she wasn’t doing that well, but she played some good tennis in Virginia. I was happy that she was able to pull off a close match the other day. It’s one of those things that when you’re playing well, but not getting any wins, it eats at your confidence a little. This was a good confidence boost for her to know she was playing better tennis.”

Senior Kristi Boxx is currently ranked No. 20 in singles with a 14-7 overall record, 4-4 at No. 1 singles. She and doubles partner Abby Guthrie are ranked No. 5 with a 16-5 record, 7-1 in dual matches. Sophomore Caroline Rohde-Moe is currently ranked No. 74 in singles with a 17-4 overall record, 7-1 at No. 2 singles.

The Rebels will begin play against Southern Miss at 1 p.m. Friday and continue Sunday at noon.