The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Kentucky
Men's Tennis Claims 4-3 Win Over Kentucky
3/30/2001 | Men's Tennis
March 30, 2001
OXFORD, Miss. - The 12th-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team lost the doubles point to Kentucky, but rallied to escape with a 4-3 win over the 42nd-ranked Wildcats Friday evening, behind a huge victory at No. 6 singles.
The Wildcats got the doubles point by winning at Nos. 1 and 3. Reven Stephens and Johan Grunditz downed the 18th-ranked Rebel duo of James Shortall and Kristofer Stahlberg 8-2 at the top spot ending a five-match win streak for the pair.
Ole Miss (13-4, 4-2 SEC) evened the match as Alex Hartman, ranked No. 16 in the nation, looked impressive in a 6-3, 6-1 win over 49th-ranked Edo Bawano at No. 1 singles. Stahlberg moved up a spot in the lineup this week, and the results were the same. He defeated Wildcat Karim Benmansour 7-6, 7-6 at No. 2 singles, to claim his 15th consecutive match. Shortall came back to beat Matthew Emery 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 3 spot to give the Rebels a 3-1 lead, but the Wildcats were not finished.
Kentucky (7-11, 1-5 SEC) posted wins at No. 4 and 5 singles to knot the score at 3-3 and push the attention to court six. Sophomore Patrick Chucri won the first set against Wildcat freshman Rahim Esmail 6-4, but Esmail battled from behind in the second (6-4) to push the match to a third set. The two played close throughout the set and forced a tiebreaker. Esmail got off to a 2-0 lead in the tiebreak but Chucri rallied to win it 7-3 and clinch the victory for the Rebels.
The Rebels travel to Nashville Sunday to face the Vanderbilt Commodores in a Noon match. Vanderbilt is currently ranked No. 41 in the nation and comes in with an 8-8 overall record, 1-6 in the SEC.
#12 Ole Miss 4
#41 Kentucky 1
SINGLES#1 Alex Hartman (OM) def. Edo Bawano (UK) 6-3, 6-1#2 Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) def. Karim Benmansour (UK) 7-6, 7-6#3 James Shortall (OM) def. Matthew Emery (UK) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4#4 Johan Grunditz (UK) def. Paul Ciorascu (OM) 7-6(4), 6-2#5 Gustav Pousette (UK) def. Martin Selin (OM) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1#6 Patrick Chucri (OM) def. Rahim Esmail (UK) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3)DOUBLES#1 Grunditz-Reven Stephens (UK) def. Shortall-Stahlberg (OM) 8-2#2 Bowano-Benmansour (UK) vs. Hartman-Chucri (UK) DNF#3 Emery-Pousette (UK) def. Conor Casey-Selin (OM) 8-2
