Jan. 18, 2013

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Ole Miss women’s tennis freshman Mai El Kamash has been here only two weeks, and Friday she was successful in her debut for the Rebels, downing Michigan freshman Amy Zhu in singles on day one of the Michigan Invitational.  Junior Caroline Rohde-Moe also picked up a win in singles for the Rebels.

Kamash, a native of Cairo, Egypt downed Zhu, ranked No. 95 in the nation, 6-1, 6-2 to give Ole Miss its first win against Michigan on the evening.

Rohde-Moe, who came into the tournament ranked No. 30 in singles, rallied to top Wolverine sophomore Emina Bektas in three sets.   After dropping the first set 7-6(3), Rohde-Moe served for the second set at 5-3, but Bektas broke back.  Rohde-Moe recovered quickly to break for the set, 6-4.  On serve at 4-3 in the third, Rohde-Moe broke Bektas again and served it out for 6-3 to improve to 12-6. Bektas finished the 2012 season ranked No. 14 nationally, but was injured during the fall.

The final match on court went three sets as well and was a very competitive on both sides.  Michigan sophomore Sarah Lee won the first set against Rebel freshman Marija Milutinovic 6-4, but the Sweden native came back to get the second set 6-3.  The two traded breaks twice in the third set before Lee was able to gain one last break and hold for 7-5 and the final win of the day.

"We had a pretty good first day," head coach Mark Beyers said.  "Mai played unbelievable in her first college match. The girl she played was ranked very high in the junior rankings. Caroline Rohde-Moe also had a great win. Obviously we didn't play as well in some matches, but for a couple of the girls, it was their first match in awhile.  Santa had not played a competitive match in 18 months and Erin missed the last half of the fall.  It was good for us to get these matches in, and we look forward to getting better tomorrow."

The Rebels will continue play Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. CT with singles against Georgia Tech followed by doubles versus South Florida.

Each team will play three rounds of doubles and three rounds of singles. There will be eight flights in singles and four flights in doubles. Points will be allotted for each win based on a point value for each position, to determine the champion (singles and doubles) at the end of the weekend.

MICHIGAN INVITATIONAL
Singles vs. Michigan
1. Caroline Rohde-Moe (OM) def. Emina Bektas (UM) 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3
2. Brooke Bolender (UM) def. Julia Jones (OM) 6-2, 6-2
3. Ronit Yurovsky (UM) def. Erin Stephens (OM) 6-1, 6-1
4. Sarah Lee (UM) def. Marija Milutinovic (OM) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
5. Mai El Kamash (OM) def. Amy Zhu (UM) 6-1, 6-2
6. Mimi Nguyen (UM) def. Santa Shumilina (OM) 6-3, 6-1
7. Kristen Dodge (UM) def. Allie Robbins (OM) 6-1, 6-1