The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Netters Earn Automatic Berth into Sweet Sixteen
6/21/1999 | Men's Tennis
May 5, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 6 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships Sweet Sixteen as the No. 5-8 seed (Alphabetically) in an announcement made by the NCAA Championships' Subcommittee Tuesday. The NCAA Championships returns to Athens, Ga., May 23-31 as the University of Georgia hosts the tournament for the 19th time in the past 22 years.
This marks the third year in a row that Ole Miss has been seeded among the top eight teams at the NCAA Championships and the seventh time in the last nine years that the Rebels have advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. The Rebels were seeded No. 2 at last year's NCAA Championships in Los Angeles, Calif., and reached the semifinals.
"In college tennis the top eight seeds advance automatically to the final sixteen and this is the goal of every team," Head Coach Billy Chadwick said. "Our team has worked extremely hard throughout the season and is very deserving of being selected to the NCAAs as one of the nation's top eight."
Two-time defending champion Stanford is seeded No. 1, while LSU, Georgia and Mississippi State are seeded two, three and four, respectively. Rounding out the top eight seeds, are Illinois, Ole Miss, Southern California and the University of Texas.
The remaining eight spots in the championship bracket will be determined by the winners of the eight regionals to be played May 15-17 at various sites around the country.
The Rebels, currently 17-7 overall, finished 8-5 in the nation's toughest conference. The SEC has had four teams ranked in the top 10 all season and currently has nine among the nation's top 25.
Ole Miss has been to the NCAA Final Four two out of the last three years, including a trip to the finals in 1995. At last year's NCAA Championships the Rebels beat UC-Santa Barbara and Boise State before falling to eventual champion Stanford in the final four.
The selections for the NCAA Individual Championships will be announced later this week. Sebastien DeChaunac is expected to be one of the favorites to win the NCAA Singles title.
