May 11, 2001
Stanford, CA - The University of Mississippi posted four straight set singles victories en route to a 4-1 win over Southeastern Conference rival Louisiana State in the first round of the NCAA Women's Tennis Team Championships on Friday morning at Stanford University's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
The 32nd-ranked Lady Rebels (10-12) advance to Saturday's second round match against the winner of Friday afternoon's match-up between Stanford and Boston University. Mississippi will face the Cardinal-Terrier winner at 2:30p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The 26th-ranked Lady Tigers conclude their season at 13-9.
Mississippi bounced back from dropping the doubles point by dominating singles competition. The Rebels prevailed at No. 2, 3, 4 and 6 singles, and lost seven games or less in each of those matches. The victory also enabled the LadyRebels to complete a season sweep over the Lady Tigers, including a 5-2 SEC win on April 7 at Mississippi.
"We did not blink after we lost the doubles point," Mississippi head coach Jerry Montgomery said. "I thought we could win all six singles matches. I challenged all of our players to focus on their matches, and win at their position. We turned the momentum around right away, and once we got going we did a great job of building on it."
Mississippi, a 33-48 seed in the tournament, took a 3-1 lead behind victories from Hanna-Katria Alto (Kajaani, Finland), Alesya Ingnatieva (Minsk, Belarus) and Mira Radu (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). Katria-Alto defeated Rocio Fantili (Puerto Madryn, Argentina/J.B. Alberti) 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2, Ingnatieva beat Lauren Haddix (Charleston, WV/Charleston Catholic HS) 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 and Radu knocked off Fernando Tsucamoto (Sao Paulo Brazil/Cip) 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4.
The Lady Rebels, who are making their sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, then clinched the match when Audra Adams (Newport Beach, CA) defeated Amy McIlhaney (Marietta, GA/UNC Greensboro) 6-3, 6-4 at No. 6 singles.
LSU, a 29-32 seed in the tournament, started the dual by winning two of the three doubles matches to capture the first point. In the deciding match, 27th-ranked Bruna Colosio (Cascaval/Brazil/Colegio Novo Milenio) and Fantilli rallied from a 7-5 deficit and dodged two match points to come back and defeat Julie DeRoo (Ecully, France) and Radu 9-8 (6).
#32 Mississippi 4, #26 LSU 1
Singles
#1 - #32 Julie DeRoo (M) tied with #8 Bruna Colosio (LSU), 6-2 (M), 3-6 (LSU)
#2 - Hanna-Katri Aalto (M) d. Rocio Fantilli, 6-1, 6-3
#3 - Alesya Ingnatieva (M) d. Lauren Haddix, 6-2, 6-1
#4 - Mira Radu (M) d. Fernanda Tsucamoto, 6-1, 6-2
#5 - Kareem Harboe (M) led Tami Botts (LSU), 6-2 5-1 (suspended)
#6 - Audra Adams (M) d. Amy McIlhaney, 6-3, 6-4* (clinched victory)
Doubles (LSU wins point)
#1 - #27 Bruna Colosio/Rocio Fantilli (LSU) d. Julie DeRoo/Mira Radu, 9-8 (6)*(clinched doubles point)
#2 - Hanna-Katri Alto/Alesya Ignatieva (M) d. Amy McIlhaney/Fernanda Tsucamoto,8-2
#3 - Tami Botts/Lauren Haddix (LSU) d. Audra Adams/Camilla Gould, 8-5
Records - #32 Mississippi 10-12, #26 LSU 13-9.