The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
SEC Championships
Men's Tennis Advances To SEC Semifinals
4/21/2000 | Men's Tennis
April 21, 2000
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team rallied from 3-2 down against sixth- seeded Mississippi State in quarterfinal action of the SEC Men's Tennis Championships to clinch a 4-3 win over the Bulldogs Friday afternoon, and advance to the semifinals. They will meet No. 2 seed Florida at 11:00 a.m. Saturday.
The Rebels, seeded third in the tournament, have made it to the semifinals five times in the 11 years that the team format has existed at the SEC Championships. Ole Miss sweeps the series with MSU 3-0 this season and has now won five straight against the Bulldogs. It is also the second time in five days that the Rebels have posted a win against MSU after their 6-1 victory last Sunday in the final regular season match.
"The key to us winning the match was definitely the doubles," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "We got down early in singles, but we battled back and it was another exciting finish between these two teams. We are looking forward to playing Florida as we continue our quest to win the SEC Tournament. They have a very talented team and will be a tough battle, but we will be ready."
Ole Miss won the doubles and that proved to be the difference. State captured the No. 2 position 8-5 and the Rebels won at No. 3 8-3 to square the doubles. James Shortall and Vikrant Chadha were up 7- 6 on court one against the team (Marco Baron and Charles Sevigny ) they had lost to on Sunday, and Shortall served out to clinch the point.
State would answer quickly winning on court five as Rene-Charles Combette downed Martin Selin 6-3, 6-1. They went up 2-0 when Baron dominated Alexander Hartman for the second time in five days 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.
MSU's Jeremy Bayon defeated Shortall 6-3, 6-2 to make it 3-1, but then Ole Miss won at Nos. 3 and 6 to make it 3-3. Anders Stenman finished off Charles Sevigny 6-2, 7-5 at No. 6 singles and then Chadha took care of State's Jerome LeBelicard 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at No. 3 singles.
That left Kristofer Stahlberg on the court against David Ruiz of MSU. Stahlberg won the first set 6-4 then broke at 5-5 in the second and served out to clinch the win. It marks the second consecutive match in whom he has been the deciding point and ironically it was against Mississippi State five days ago.
The Rebels have lost both matches to Florida this year, a 5-3 decision in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships and a 5-2 setback at Florida during the regular season.
SEC MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS - Starkville, Miss.
#3 Ole Miss 4
#6 Mississippi State 3
SINGLES
#1 Marco Baron (MSU) def. Alexander Hartman (OM) 6-2, 6-1
#2 Jeremy Bayon (MSU) def. James Shortall (OM) 6-3, 6-2
#3 Vikrant Chadha (OM) def. Jerome LeBelicard (MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
#4 Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) def. David Ruiz (MSU) 6-4, 7-5
#5 Rene-Charles Combette (MSU) def. Martin Selin (OM) 6-3, 6-1
#6 Anders Stenman (OM) def. Charles Sevigny (MSU) 6-2, 7-5
DOUBLES
#1 Shortall-Chadha (OM) def. Baron-Sevigny (MSU) 6-2, 7-5
#2 Bayon-Combette (MSU) def. Selin-Stahlberg (OM) 8-5
#3 Hartman-Stenman (OM) def. LeBelicard-Ruiz (MSU) 8-3
