The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Tennessee (M)
Men's Tennis Defeats Tennessee 4-3 In Thrilling Match
3/31/2002 | Men's Tennis
March 31, 2002
OXFORD, Miss. - With the score knotted at 3-3, Ole Miss freshman Catalin Gard held off Tennessee's Adam Carey in the third set to clinch a 4-3 win for the sixth-ranked Rebels over the 13th-ranked Volunteers Sunday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. With the win, the Rebels split their weekend matches and improved to 13-4 overall and 5-3 in the SEC.
"This was a great win over the No. 13 team in the country," head coach Billy Chadwick said. They have been ranked as high as No. 2 or 3 in the nation. They had some tough losses early on playing without their top two players, but we beat their full team today. If you are going to have a great season, it is important to win these type of matches. We had a great crowd on Friday against Georgia, and a good crowd for Easter Sunday."
Ole Miss came out firing in doubles to take the early 1-0 lead. The Rebels won at No. 3 doubles in convincing fashion, 8-2. Tennessee (12-5, 5-3) took the No. 2 spot 8-4. The senior duo of Kristofer Stahlberg and Martin Selin defeated Mario Toledo and Simon Rea 8-4 at No. 1 doubles to clinch the point.
The Rebels would gain two quick victories in singles to take a 3-0 lead in the match. Selin dominated Tennessee's Mark Dietrich 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 singles and then Claes Lindholm downed Wade Orr 6-1, 6-2 on court six.
Tennessee began its comeback attempt when eighth-ranked Peter Handoyo defeated 25th-ranked Alex Hartman 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Rebel Paul Ciorascu won the first set against Volunteer Simon Rea at No. 5 singles, but Rea rallied for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory to get the Vols within 3-2. With court three having split sets, the Volunteers squared the match when 16th-ranked Toledo came back to beat 43rd-ranked Stahlberg 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2 singles.
On court three, Gard won the first set against Carey, a senior, 6-3 and was up 4-1 in the second, but Carey rallied to win 6-4. In the third set, Gard held a 3-2 lead and broke to go up 4-2. He held serve and then on match point in the seventh game, hit a drop shot to clinch the 4-3 victory for the Rebels.
The Rebels will host an exhibition match against the British Traveling team on Tuesday at 2 p.m., before hitting the road to play Arkansas and LSU.
#6 Ole Miss 4
#13 Tennessee 3
SINGLES
#1 Peter Handoyo (UT) def. Alex Hartman (OM) 6-4, 6-2
#2 Mario Toledo (UT) def. Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3
#3 Catalin Gard (OM) def. Adam Carey (UT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
#4 Martin Selin (OM) def. Mark Dietrich (UT) 6-0, 6-1
#5 Simon Rea (UT) def. Paul Ciorascu (OM) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
#6 Claes Lindholm (OM) def. Wade Orr (UT) 6-1, 6-2
DOUBLES
#1 Stahlberg-Selin (OM) def. Toledo-Rea (UT) 8-4
#2 Handoyo-Carey (UT) def. Gard-Ciorascu (OM) 8-4
#3 Hartman-Linhdolm (OM) def. Mark Henderson-Dietrich (UT) 8-2
