JACKSON, Miss. (Apr. 8, 2017) – Centre College broke open its women's tennis match against Millsaps College with five straight wins in singles play on its way to a 7-2 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) victory. It was the first conference loss of the season for the Majors.
 
Ranked No. 9 in the region, Centre (9-6, 3-1 SAA) picked up an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles and then an 8-3 decision at No. 2 to open the match. Ranked No. 14, Millsaps (13-4, 3-1 SAA) avoided the doubles sweep when its No. 3 team of junior Reya Hayek (Greenville, Miss.) and freshman Natalie Toups (Baton Rouge, La.) scored an 8-4 victory over Courtney DeLong and Kenny Snow.
 
Centre opened singles play with a victory at No. 3 singles where Emily Zelichenok defeated junior Mary Claiborne-Sharpe (Brownsville, Tenn.), 6-2, 6-0. The Colonels then went on to take the next four singles matches decided to claim the team victory.
 
At No. 1, junior Ashley Ford (Austin, Texas) gave Millsaps its singles point, scoring a three-set victory over Neha Rao, currently ranked No. 12 in the region. Ford fought off her opponent in a close first, 7-6 (2) set only to see her come back to win the second, 6-4. In the third set Ford prevailed, upending her opponent 10-7 to take the victory.
 
Millsaps will close its home schedule for the season tomorrow when it hosts Sewanee, ranked No. 16 in the nation, on the Coach Montgomery Courts starting at 9:00 a.m.

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