The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis Falls to Mississippi State
6/21/1999 | Men's Tennis
April 9, 1998
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The No. 5 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team dropped the opening doubles point against No. 4 Mississippi State and never recovered as the Bulldogs ousted the Rebels 5-2 Thursday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
With the loss, Ole Miss fell to 16-5 overall, 7-3 in the SEC, while State improved to 15-3 overall and 8-2 in the SEC. The win evened the series between the two schools since 1969 at 20- 20.
State jumped on the Rebels early, sweeping all three doubles positions for the first point of the match, and did not let up in singles, winning four of the first six sets played and the first three matches completed.
Fourth-ranked Rebel Sebastien DeChaunac suffered the worse loss of his career, dropping a 6-0, 6-0 decision to 27th-ranked Thomas Dupre at the top spot. DeChaunac had dominated Dupre 6-3, 6-2 in their earlier meeting this year. The two players were the nation's preseason No. 1 (Dupre) and No. 2 (DeChaunac) players.
Minutes later, the match ended as State's 51st-ranked Jeremy Bayon handed 50th-ranked Vikrant Chada his first loss in 14 matches, 6-2, 6-1. Simon Larose, ranked 14th, clinched the win for the Bulldogs with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Sebastien Lami at No. 2 singles.
Ole Miss' only two points on the day came at No. 5 and 6 singles after the match had been clinched. Anders Stenman defeated Derek Pope 6-4, 6-4 at the fifth spot and James Shortall beat Conrad Hurter 6-2, 0-6, 6-1 at the sixth position. Shortall has now won five in a row.
"We lost at two positions (one and four) that we've counted on all year," Head Coach Billy Chadwick said. "State came ready to play and they played a great match. Hopefully we can rebound and prepare to face another very good team in Georgia on Sunday."
The loss was only the Rebels second setback in April during the past three seasons. The Rebels will try to rebound from the loss on Sunday, when they face No. 3 Georgia at 2:00 p.m., at Henry Feild Stadium in Athens.
#5 Ole Miss 2
#4 Mississippi State 5
SINGLES
#1 Thomas Dupre (MSU) def. Sebastien DeChaunac (OM) 6-0, 6-0
#2 Simon Larose (MSU) def. Sebastien Lami (OM) 7-5, 6-3
#3 Matthieu Ballay (MSU) def. Martin Sjoqvist (OM) 6-4, 6-4
#4 Jeremy Bayon (MSU) def. Vikrant Chada (OM) 6-2, 6-1
#5 Anders Stenman (OM) def. Derek Pope (MSU) 6-4, 6-4
#6 James Shortall (OM) def. Conrad Hurter (MSU) 6-2, 0-6, 6-1
DOUBLES
#1 Larose-Bayon (MSU) def. DeChaunac-Sjoqvist (OM) 8-6
#2 Ballay-Dupre (MSU) def. Shortall-Stenman (OM) 8-4
#3 Healey-Pope (MSU) def. Lami-Chada (OM) 9-7
