The University of Mississippi Athletics
DeChaunac No. 1 in the Nation
6/21/1999 | Men's Tennis
May 5, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. - Sebastien DeChaunac of the Ole Miss men's tennis team moved to No. 1 in the nation as the fifth edition of the Rolex Collegiate Rankings were released Tuesday by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). DeChaunac will head into the NCAA Championships as the nation's top player, as this is the final individual rankings until the end of the championships.
In the team standings, the Rebels remained at No. 6 nationally. Stanford, LSU, Georgia, Mississippi State, Texas, Southern California, Illinois, UCLA and Pepperdine round out the top 10. The SEC has had four teams in the top 10 the entire season and currently there are nine teams among the top 25 in the nation.
The Rebels are waiting word on the NCAA selections which will be released Tuesday by the NCAA Subcommittee. The top eight teams advance automatically to the Sweet Sixteen in Athens, Ga., while the remaining teams are paired in eight different regionals.
DeChaunac, the preseason No. 2 player in the nation, has been in the top 10 all spring after capturing the SEC Singles title. DeChaunac was No. 5 in the last poll, but posted a win over the nation's No. 2 player, Michal Chmela (LSU), at the SEC Tournament. He currently has a 21-6 overall record, 16-6 at the No. 1 position.
An All-America, DeChaunac was named to the All-SEC first team for the second year in a row, and the SEC Academic Honor Roll. In addition DeChaunac was the 1997 SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player and a 1997 NCAA Semifinalist. DeChaunac is a GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America nominee and holds a 3.85 grade point average in Economics.
DeChaunac becomes the fourth Rebel ever to be ranked No. 1 in singles or doubles, and the second singles player to be ranked No. 1. Former NCAA Doubles Champions Mahesh Bhupathi and Ali Hamadeh ended the 1995 season No. 1 in the nation in doubles, while three-time All-America Johan Hede was the preseason No. 1 singles player in the nation last year.
Sophomore Martin Sjoqvist is ranked 43rd, while Vikrant Chada is tied for 69th. Sjoqvist owns a 26-16 overall record, 11-5 at the No. 3 position. Chada holds a 26-11 overall record, 12-2 at the No. 4 position. Freshman Sebastien Lami stayed at 94th in the rankings with a 24-16 overall record, 7-7 at the No. 2 position.
In doubles, DeChaunac and Sjoqvist remained at No. 23 with a 15-8 record.
