Men's Tennis To Host Florida, Tennessee This Weekend

April 3, 2001

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RECORD: 14-4 (5-2 SEC)
NATIONAL RANKING: #12 (ITA/WingspanBank.com)

NEXT UP: #11 Tennessee - April 6
#29 Florida - April 8
WHERE: Oxford, Miss.
TIME: 2:00 p.m./1:00 p.m.

REBELS TO FACE SEC FOES AT HOME
Ole Miss (14-4, 5-2) returns home to host a pair of top SEC foes this weekend at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. The Rebels will face No. 11 Tennessee Friday at 2:00 p.m., before hosting No. 29 Florida on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE
Tennessee comes into Friday's match with a 12-4 overall record and an indentical conference mark of 5-2. The Vols are coming off a 6-1 loss at Georgia on Sunday. Senior Mark Parsons leads the Vols with a 6-9 record. This week's SEC Player of the Week, Parsons is tied for third on the Vol all-time wins list with 115 victories. This will be the second meeting of the two teams this year with Tennessee claiming a 4-2 win over the Rebels in the consolation round of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor on Feb. 16. Ole Miss defeated Tennessee 4-3 last year in Knoxville. The last time the two teams faced off in Oxford, Tennessee upset the Rebels 4-3.

SCOUTING FLORIDA
Florida is presently ranked No. 29 in the nation with a 9-10 overall record, 3-3 in the SEC. The Gators host Alabama on Wednesday and travel to Mississippi State on Friday, before facing the Rebels on Sunday. Florida is led by senior Nathan Overholser, who is ranked No. 21 in the nation. The Gator's No. 1 doubles duo of Overholser and Olivier Levant is ranked No. 14. Florida has won three straight against the Rebels. The Gators beat the Rebels during the National Team Indoors last year, during the regular season and again in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.

REBELS GO 2-0 LAST WEEKEND
Ole Miss posted a 2-0 record last weekend with wins over No. 42 Kentucky and No. 41 Vanderbilt. On Friday, the Rebels lost the doubles point to Kentucky, but rallied to take four of the six singles matches for a 4-3 win. 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. Against Vanderbilt, the Rebels won the doubles point and then five of the six singles to claim a 6-1 victory. Vanderbilt won first sets in three of the singles matches, but the Rebels would storm back, winning those matches decisively in the final two sets.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Ole Miss is ranked No. 12 in the latest WingspanBank.com ITA National Rankings. Individually, sophomore Alex Hartman is ranked No. 16 , James Shortall is ranked No. 29 and Kristofer Stahlberg is ranked No. 38 in singles. In doubles, Shortall and Stahlberg are ranked No. 25.

AGAINST THE BEST
The Rebels are 11-4 this year versus nationally-ranked opponents. They are1-3 against Top 25 foes and 0-3 versus teams in the top 10.

HOME SWEET HOME
Ole Miss is a tough assignment for opponents in Oxford. The Rebels have won 55 of their last 60 matches at home. The Rebels finished 10-1 at home in 2000 and are 7-1 at home this year with their only loss coming to No. 5 Georgia.

MONEY IN THE BANK
You're familiar with that phrase "money in the bank". Kristofer Stahlberg has been one of the most consistent Rebels the last three years. All he does, is win. He has won 16 in a row and is undefeated in dual matches this spring at 16-0. Currently ranked No. 38 in the nation in singles, Stahlberg has a career dual match record of 49-7. He is a combined 24-3 in singles and doubles this spring. Even more impressive, Stahlberg has a career record of 24-5 in the SEC, the nation's top tennis conference.

STAHLBERG TO MAKE DEBUT AT NO. 1
Junior Kristofer Stahlberg is undefeated in dual matches. He went 14-0 at No. 3 singles so the coaches moved him up a spot last week to No. 2 singels, and he went 2-0. This week, Stahlberg will make his debut at No. 1 singles.

HOW ABOUT THE TOP THREE
The Rebels are a combined 41-10 at the top three positions in the lineup. Alex Hartman is 12-6, James Shortall is 13-4, and Kristofer Stahlberg is 16-0.

STAHLBERG EARNS SEC HONOR
Junior 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.

THE LAST TIME
Kristofer Stahlberg is currently undefeated in SEC play this year with a 7-0 record. The last Rebel player to go undefeated in conference action, was All-American Johan Hede, who went 11-0 in 1996 on his way to earning SEC Player of the Year honors.

MILESTONES
Kristofer Stahlberg needs two wins to notch his 70th career victory. He has won as least 20 matches in a each of his three seasons. He needs three more doubles victories to earn the 50th of his career. Senior James Shortall is approaching his 90th career victory. He needs five more wins 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 three wins to reach 60 for his career. He currently has 57 career victories.

ON THE COURT
Ole Miss is 11-1 when they win the doubles point and 2-3 when they lose the point...The Rebels are 6-1 in outdoor matches and 8-3 indoors...Alex Hartman and Patrick Chucri have won four in a row and six of their last seven at No. 2 doubles.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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