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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Auburn
Men's Tennis Defeats Auburn, 5-2
3/31/2000 | Men's Tennis
March 31, 2000
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 14 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team rallied from losing the doubles point to take a 5-2 win over 27th-ranked Auburn Friday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
With the win, the Rebels improve to 12-4 overall and 4-2 in the SEC. Auburn drops to 9-5 overall and 1-4 in the SEC. It also marked the first time this year that the Rebels have come back to win a match after losing the doubles point.
"I am happy we were able to rebound after the loss to LSU," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "Auburn played well. It was important for us to be able to dig in and win a close match. I am especially proud of our senior Vikrant Chadha. He used his experience to close the match out, and that proved to be the difference."
For the second straight match, the Rebels dropped the opening doubles point. Ole Miss' Kristofer Stahlberg and Martin Selin cruised to an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles over Tiago Ruffoni and Marcel Mizerski, but Auburn won the other two for the point.
Selin evened the match, with a stellar performance at No. 5 singles allowing the Tigers' Andre Boz only one game in a 6-1, 6-0 win. Anders Stenman defeated Mizerski in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to put Ole Miss on top 2-1.
Freshman Alexander Hartman, ranked No. 30 in the nation, was impressive at No. 1 singles, as he beat 50th-ranked Georges Matijasevic 6-4, 6-1 to make it 3-1 Rebels. With a battle going on court three, James Shortall and Stephen Huss split sets at No.2 singles, while Auburn's Estevam Strecker won a first set tiebreaker against Stahlberg at the No. 4 position.
On court three, Chadha rallied, after losing the first set 6-1, to take the second set 6-3 over Mark Kovacs. The two went back and forth in the deciding set, before Chadha broke in the ninth game for a 5- 4 lead. He held serve to win the match and clinch the victory for the Rebels.
Huss gave Auburn its only point in singles, finishing off Shortall 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 at the No. 2 spot. Stahlberg won the second set 7-5 against Strecker and then the two played a supertiebreaker, which he won 11-9 to finish out the scoring.
The Rebels will conclude their five-match homestand with Alabama on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
#14 Ole Miss 5
#27 Auburn 2
SINGLES
#1 Alexander Hartman (OM) def. Georges Matisjasevic (AU) 6-4, 6-1
#2 Stephen Huss (AU) def. James Shortall (OM) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
#3 Vikrant Chadha (OM) def. Mark Kovacs (AU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
#4 Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) def. Estevam Strecker (AU) 6-7(5), 7-5, 1-0 (9)
#5 Martin Selin (OM) def. Andre Boz (AU) 6-1, 6-0
#6 Anders Stenman (OM) def. Marcel Mizerski (AU) 6-2, 6-4
DOUBLES
#1 Huss-Matijasevic (AU) def. Shortall-Chadha (OM) 8-5
#2 Stahlberg-Selin (OM) def. Tiago Ruffoni-Mizerski (AU) 8-2
#3 Kovacs-Strecker (AU) def. Hartman-Stenman (OM) 8-4
