The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
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Mississippi St
Men's Tennis Wins Eighth Straight Over Mississippi State
1/31/2002 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 31, 2002
JACKSON, Miss. - The fifth annual River Hills Mississippi Cup turned out to be another epic battle between Ole Miss and Mississippi State that even involved mother nature. After an hour and a half power outage delay due to an area thunderstorm, Rebel newcomer Claes Lindholm defeated State freshman Ameryic Henou 7-5, 6-4, to clinch a 4-2 win for the Rebels, their eighth straight victory in the series.
"This was a great team effort from top to bottom," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "We got off to an excellent start in doubles, but we had to battle hard and dig down deep in singles to come away with the win. I have to give Mississippi State credit. They played hard. This was a huge win for us early in the season."
The eight consecutive wins for the Rebels in the series dates back to the 1999 regular season meeting. Ole Miss breaks a 2-2 tie in the Mississippi Cup series. State won the first two, but the Rebels have now won the last three.
For the third straight match, the Rebels dominated doubles play, losing only three games en route to claiming the first point of the match. Paul Ciorascu and Lindholm downed Mississippi State's Henou and David Ruiz 8-1 at No. 3 doubles, and then Alex Hartman and Catalin Gard finished off Luiz Carvalho and Jerome LeBelicard 8-2 the No. 2 position.
Ole Miss went up 2-0 after Gard, playing in his first collegiate match, defeated Mississippi State's LeBelicard 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 singles. The Bulldogs made it 2-1 when Ruiz downed 51st-ranked Kristofer Stahlberg 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. That's when the storm came, and the power went out.
Following the delay, Mississippi State squared the match 2-2 by winning the battle at the top spot. Ole Miss' Hartman, ranked No. 21 in the nation, stormed out to win the first set 6-0 against 15th-ranked Romain Ambert, and the match was tied 5-5 in the second set, before play was abruptly halted. When play resumed, Ambert would hold serve and break to claim the second set 7-5. He got an early break in the third, but Hartman broke back to even the match at 4-4. Ambert won the final two games for the victory.
The Rebels regained the lead 3-2, as senior Martin Selin dominated MSU's Carvalho 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 5 spot.
That left Lindholm and Henou on court six and Ciorascu against Rene Charles Combette on court four. Ciorascu lost the first set 6-2 and was down in the second. He would come back to win in a tiebreaker, 7-5 to force a third set. Combette led Ciorascu 4-3 when Ole Miss' Lindholm broke a 4-4 tie in the second against Henou and held serve to clinch the victory.
Ole Miss will now prepare for the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Feb. 7-10 in Louisville, Ky.
#5 Ole Miss 4
#15 Mississippi State 2
SINGLES
#1 Romain Ambert (MSU) def. Alex Hartman (OM) 0-6, 7-5, 6-4
#2 David Ruiz (MSU) def. Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) 6-3, 6-2
#3 Catalin Gard (OM) def. Jerome LeBelicard (MSU) 6-3, 6-4
#4 Paul Ciorascu (OM) vs. Rene Charles Combette (MSU) 2-6, 7-6(5), 4-3 MSU, sus.
#5 Martin Selin (OM) def. Luiz Carvalho (MSU) 6-1, 6-2
#6 Claes Lindholm (OM) def. Aymeric Henou (MSU) 7-5, 6-4
DOUBLES
#1 Stahlberg-Selin (OM) vs. Ambert-Combette (MSU) 5-3 OM, sus.
#2 Hartman-Gard (OM) def. Carvalho-LeBelicard (MSU) 8-2
#3 Ciorascu-Lindholm (OM) def. Henou-Ruiz (MSU) 8-1
