Women's Tennis Heads to the Magnolia State for Weekend Matches

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After playing four of its first five matches at home, the Belmont University women's tennis team travels to Mississippi this weekend to take on Southeast Conference stalwarts Mississippi State and Ole Miss. The Bruins (2-3) face the Bulldogs Friday morning and take on the Rebels Saturday afternoon.
 
Friday's first serve at Mississippi State is slated for 11 a.m., while Saturday's match at Ole Miss will start at 1 p.m.
 
Both matches will be played indoors and will be streamed online.
 
Belmont is coming off a challenging weekend at the Ensworth Tennis Center where the Bruins played shorthanded against East Tennessee State University last Friday and Western Kentucky last Sunday. In a fight to the very end against the visiting Lady Toppers Sunday, Belmont picked up singles wins at the top two spots thanks to strong play from freshman Mariia Hlahola and sophomore Abi Solomon.
 
Following a 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles versus WKU, the tandem of Hlahola and Solomon was named Missouri Valley Conference Doubles Team of the Week.
 
This weekend begins a strenuous five-match road stretch for the Bruins, who take on the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Auburn next weekend in Alabama before heading to Indiana the following weekend on Sunday, Feb. 26.
 
The host Bulldogs enter the weekend at 8-1 on the young season with wins over the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, UAB, Arkansas State, Jacksonville State, Tennessee State (twice), Memphis and Jackson State. Mississippi State's lone loss took place last Friday when the Bulldogs were swept 7-0 at 14th-ranked Iowa State.
 
Mississippi State features sophomore Minnesota transfer Maria Rizzolo, who is ranked 77th nationally with an 8-4 overall singles record and a 4-2 mark this spring. The Bulldogs' top singles player, graduate student Emmanouela Antonaki, is 7-1 in dual matches and was named All-SEC Second Team last year.
 
The Rebels are off to a 3-2 start, starting the season 3-0 with victories over ETSU (5-2), North Alabama (4-0) and Memphis (5-2). Last weekend, Ole Miss suffered narrow 4-3 setbacks on the road in Texas at receiving-votes Baylor and TCU.
 
Sophomore Ludmila Kareisová is ranked No. 107 in the nation, owning a 7-7 overall singles record and going 3-2 at the No. 2 spot thus far this season.
 
Up Next
Belmont will spend next weekend in Auburn, Alabama, where the Bruins will take on the Blazers of UAB in a neutral-site match Saturday before facing another SEC foe in the Tigers Sunday.
 
Follow Belmont women's tennis on social media – @BelmontWTennis on Twitter and @belmontwtennis on Instagram – for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.