The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis to Face California at NCAA Championships
6/21/1999 | Men's Tennis
May 19, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 6 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team will meet 13th-ranked California in the first round of the NCAA Team Championships Saturday in Athens, Ga. The Rebels and Bears will face off at 4 p.m., CST at the McWhorter Courts on the University of Georgia campus.
"Through the years, Cal has been a mainstay in the NCAA Championships and many feel this is their strongest team in recent years," Head Coach Billy Chadwick said. "They split this year with UCLA and USC, so we're looking at a very tough first round opponent."
Ole Miss enters the tournament as a 5-8 seed. The Rebels completed the regular season with a 17-7 overall record. California comes in as a 9-12 seed after winning the NCAA Region V Championships to advance to the final 16. The Bears own a 17-6 overall record and finished 7-5 in the PAC-10. The winner of this match will advance to the quarterfinals to face either LSU or SMU Sunday at 3 p.m., CST.
The Bears are coming off a 4-3 win over Kansas and a 4-2 win against Oklahoma State on their way to capturing the NCAA Region V Championships this past weekend. California posted impressive wins over UCLA and USC during the regular season. The Bears are led by Bobby Mahal who holds a 10-9 record at the No. 1 position.
The Rebels are led by No.1 ranked Sebastien DeChaunac, who holds a 21-6 overall record, 16-6 at the No. 1 postition. The All-SEC selection has won five of his last six matches and also posted a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the spring.
California and Ole Miss have only met once prior to this year's NCAA Championships. The Bears defeated the Rebels 5-1 in 1990 at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
Ole Miss is making its seventh NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance in the last nine years. In 1995 the Rebels advanced to the Finals and last year they defeated UC-Santa Barbara and Boise State on their way to the Semifinals.
