Men's Tennis Begins Quest For SEC Tournament Title

April 18, 2001

2001 Men's Tennis SEC Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
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RECORD: 16-6 (7-4 SEC)
NATIONAL RANKING: #9 (ITA/WingspanBank.com)

NEXT UP: SEC Tournament, April 19-22
WHERE: Lexington, Ky.
OPPONENT: Kentucky/Vanderbilt - Friday, 4:00 PM ET

SEC TOURNAMENT UP NEXT FOR REBELS
The premier tennis conference in the nation gathers this week in Lexington, Ky., for the SEC Men's Tennis Championships. Ole Miss heads into the SEC Tournament with a 16-6 overall record. They finished 7-4 in the SEC and earned the fourth seed in the upcoming tournament. The Rebels will meet the winner of the No. 5 seed Kentucky and the No. 12 seed Vanderbilt, Friday at 4:00 p.m. ET.

REBELS EARN EIGHTH STRAIGHT FIRST-ROUND BYE
The Rebels earned a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament for the eighth straight year, by finishing in the top four in the regular season. All four of the Rebels' conference losses came against top 25 teams.

OLE MISS IN THE SEC TOURNAMENT
Ole Miss has won the SEC Tournament once in the history of the program, defeating Georgia 4-2 to capture the 1997 championship. The Rebels beat Mississippi State 4-3 in the quarterfinals of last year's SEC Tournament in Starkville, before losing to eventual champion Florida in the semifinals.

REBS COMING OFF HUGE WIN OVER ARCH-RIVAL
Sophomore Patrick Chucri battled for over three hours against Mississippi State freshman Max Fomine at No. 6 singles, and won the decisive third set 7-5, to clinch a 4-3 win for the 11th-ranked Rebels over the 19th-ranked Bulldogs on senior day Saturday afternoon. The match lasted nearly eight hours and had to be moved indoors after the doubles play due to rain. With the match knotted at 3-3, Chucri won the first set 7-5. In the second set, Fomine held a 6-5 lead and had four set points, but Chucri would hold to force a tiebreaker, which State won 7-3 to send it to a third set. The two battled to 5-5 in the final set and Chucri was down 0-30 on his serve before rallying to hold for a 6-5 lead. Fomine served an ace on the first point of the next game, and then Chucri won four straight points to close out the win. It was the only break of either player's serve in the last two sets and it gave the Rebels their seventh consecutive win in the series.

SEVEN STRAIGHT
With their huge comeback win over Mississippi State Saturday, the Rebels have now won seven straight in the series. They defeated the Bulldogs 4-1 in this year's Mississippi Cup before Saturday's 4-3 win in Oxford.

SCOUTING KENTUCKY
Kentucky comes into the SEC Tournament as the No. 5 seed with a 13-13 overall record 5-6 in conference play. The Wildcats are ranked No. 27 in the latest national rankings. Kentucky is led by 47th-ranked Edo Bawano, who earned SEC Player of the Week honors for the week of March 19. Ole Miss has won eight consecutive matches against Kentucky including this year's regular season meeting.

THE LAST TIME WE MET
Ole Miss defeated Kentucky 4-3 in Lexington on March 30. Kentucky won the doubles point, but then Ole Miss would win four of the six singles matches to claim the victory. The match came down to court six with sophomore Patrick Chucri battling Kentucky's Rahim Esmail. Chucri won the first set 6-4, but Esmail took 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.

SCOUTING VANDERBILT
Vanderbilt enters the tournament as the No. 12 seed with a 12-10 overall record, 2-8 in the SEC. The Commodores are ranked No. 46 and led by 80th-ranked Eddie Coates. Vanderbilt posted upset wins over Alabama and Arkansas for their only two conference victories. The Rebels have won 12 in a row over Vanderbilt including this year's meeting.

LAST OUTING AGAINST VANDY
Ole Miss downed Vanderbilt 6-1 on April 1 in Nashville. The Rebels won the doubles point and then five of the six singles for the win. Vanderbilt won first sets in three of the singles matches, but the Rebels stormed back to win the final two sets decisively.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Ole Miss is ranked No. 9 in the latest WingspanBank.com ITA National Rankings. Individually, sophomore Alex Hartman is ranked No. 9, Kristofer Stahlberg is ranked No. 31, and James Shortall is ranked No. 28 in singles. In doubles, Shortall and Stahlberg are ranked No. 16.

AGAINST THE BEST
The Rebels are 13-6 this year versus nationally-ranked opponents. They are 3-5 against top 25 foes and 0-4 versus teams in the top 10.

MR. CONSISTENCY
Kristofer Stahlberg is as good as "money in the bank". He comes into the tournament with an 18-2 dual match record. He is undefeated (14-0) at No. 3 singles, 3-1 at No. 2 singles and 1-1 at No. 1 singles. Stahlberg is a combined 28-6 in singles and doubles this spring. Currently ranked No. 32 in singles, Stahlberg has a career dual match record of 51-9. Even more impressive, Stahlberg has a career record of 26-7 in the SEC, the nation's top tennis conference.

HOW ABOUT THE TOP THREE
The Rebels are a combined 48-15 at the top three positions in the lineup. Alex Hartman is 13-9, James Shortall is 17-4, and Kristofer Stahlberg is 18-2.

STAHLBERG EARNS SEC HONOR
Kristofer Stahlberg was named the SEC Player of the Week for the week of March 26. He posted a 6-0 record the previous week including wins over the nation's No. 1 doubles team and the 43rd-ranked player in singles. This is the first honor for Stahlberg and the first player of the week for the Rebels this season.

MILESTONES
Kristofer Stahlberg defeated Luiz Carvalho 6-3, 6-2 to notch his 70th career victory. He has won at least 20 matches in a each of his three seasons. He needs one more doubles victory to earn the 50th of his career. Senior James Shortall is approaching his 90th career victory. He needs one more win to reach 90 for his career. Shortall won his 60th career doubles match when he and Stahlberg defeated Louisiana Monroe's Bart Dabrowski and Rob Bailey. Alex Hartman needs two wins to reach 60 for his career. He currently has 58 career victories.

BLACKBURN RECEIVES TOP AWARD
Senior David Blackburn earned the Taylor Medal for the most outstanding student in the School of Accounting. He received the award at Honors Day ceremonies held on April 5 Blackburn, a four-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and a member of the Chancellor's Honor Roll, is currently in graduate school.

ON THE COURT
Ole Miss is 12-1 when they win the doubles point and 3-5 when they lose the point...James Shortall has won has won six in a row in singles, all at the No. 3 spot...Included in that streak is wins over three nationally-ranked opponents.

HOME SWEET HOME
Ole Miss is a tough assignment for opponents in Oxford. The Rebels have won 57 of their last 63 matches at home. They finished the regular season 9-2 at home this year with their losses coming to No. 5 Georgia and No. 7 Tennessee.

IT'S ALL ACADEMIC
The Rebels had six players make the 2001 SEC Men's Tennis Academic Honor Roll. Alex Hartman, Jim Jacobs, Martin Selin, James Shortall Kristofer Stahlberg and David Blackburn were among 65 student-athletes selected to the honor roll. Blackburn became the first Rebel tennis player to be named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years of his career. He recently received the Taylor Medal for the most outstanding student in the School of Accounting. Shortall is making his third appearance on the honor roll. The senior passed 25 hours last semester and made one of the Universities three honor rolls for the seventh consecutive semester. Selin and Stahlberg made the honor roll for the second time, while Hartman was eligible for the first time.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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