A big early season win keeps the Rebels undefeated as Ole Miss (3-0) prevailed over No. 14 Michigan (2-1) at the ITA Kickoff weekend in Atlanta on Saturday.
Sabina Machalova was crucial to the teams victory as she won her doubles match with Rachel Krzyzak as her pair. Machalova also dominated her singles match to give the Rebels two of the four points needed to secure a win.
The Rebels were able to pull off a pair of huge upsets as Reka Zadori beat No. 99 Julie Fliegner, and Tiffany Fiquet/Anaëlle Leclercq-Ficher beat Michigan’s Jaeden Brown/ No. 17 Kari Miller in a 22 point tie breaker.
The heavyweight matchup of the day between Ole Miss’s No. 20 Tiphanie Fiquet and Michigan’s No. 17 Kari Miller was not finished due to the Rebels clinching an early victory, but Miller had a 7-6 lead at the end of the match.
Icing the Wolverines means that Ole Miss will advance to the regional championship of the tournament tomorrow, where they will play Old Dominion. Beating Michigan kept the Rebels’ hot start going, and a victory on Sunday will help keep the teams confidence high as they await the start of SEC play on March 4, when they will play away at Georgia.
Full Results
Doubles
- Tiphanie Fiquet/Anaëlle Leclercq-Ficher def. Jaedan Brown/Kari Miller (MICH), 7-6 (10)
- Sabina Machalova/Rachel Krzyzak def. Julia Fliegner/Andrea Cerdan (MICH), 6-2
- Anca Craciun/Nicole Hammond (MICH) def. Lillian Gabrielsen/Kelsey Mize, 6-3
Singles
- No. 17 Kari Miller (MICH) vs. No. 20 Tiphanie Fiquet, 7-6 (11) (unfinished)
- No. 80 Sabina Machalova def. No. 120 Nicole Hammond (MICH), 6-4, 6-3
- Andrea Cerdan (MICH) vs. Anaëlle Leclercq-Ficher, 6-1, 4-4 (unfinished)
- Jaedan Brown (MICH) def. Ludmila Karéisova, 6-3, 6-3
- Reka Zadori def. No. 99 Julia Fliegner (MICH), 6-4, 6-2
- Rachel Krzyzak def. Gala Mesochoritou (MICH), 7-5, 6-1