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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
NCAA Final 16 - Pepperdine
Pepperdine Edges Ole Miss 4-3 In NCAA Sweet Sixteen
5/18/2002 | Men's Tennis
May 18, 2002
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The ninth-seed Ole Miss men's tennis team lost a hard-fought 4-3 match to eighth seed Pepperdine in the NCAA "Sweet Sixteen" Saturday at the Texas A&M Tennis Center.
With the loss, the Rebels end their season at 19-6, while Pepperdine (24-5) goes on to face Georgia in the quarterfinals.
"We positioned ourselves to win the match," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "I have to give credit to Pepperdine. They played the bigger points better. We had game point to go up 5-0 in the third set on court four, and if we win that, we feel like we are going to win the match. We had Pepperdine where we wanted them, they just battled back. Overall it was a great team effort, we just lost."
Pepperdine got on the board first by winning the doubles point. The Waves won convincingly at No. 1 doubles 8-1 and then claimed the No. 2 spot 8-5. The No. 3 match was tied 6-6 when the point was clinched. Pepperdine has lost the doubles point only three times all season-to California, Notre Dame and Purdue. Ole Miss went 16-0 this year when winning the doubles point, but only 3-6 when losing the opening point.
Ole Miss gained a 2-1 lead by winning where they have all year, at Nos. 3 and 6 singles. Sophomore Claes Lindholm defeated Pepperdine's Sebastien Graeff 6-1, 6-4 at No. 6 singles. He ended the year 22-2 in dual matches and won nine in a row.
Freshman Catalin Gard won his eighth match in a row when he downed the Waves' Calle Hansen 6-0, 6-3 at the No. 3 spot. He posted an18-4 record in dual matches. Both Gard and Lindholm finished a combined 40-6 for the Rebels.
Junior All-American Alex Hartman played one of his best matches of the year knocking off the nation's No. 3 ranked player, Al Garland in straight sets to give the Rebels a 3-1 lead. The two battled back and forth in the first set going to a tiebreaker, where Hartman picked it up a notch to win 7-2. He carried that momentum into the second set, which he won 6-1. The win marks Hartman's first win over a top 10 opponent this year.
Rebel Paul Ciorascu was down a set 6-3 against Johan Berg on court five, but he rallied to win the second 6-3. Berg would go on to take the third set 6-4 to get within 3-2 with courts two and four in the third sets.
Ole Miss needed one point to win the match and looked to its two seniors. Martin Selin won the first set 6-4 in his match against Diego Acuna, but Acuna came back strong in the second set, 6-1. It appeared the Rebels were on their way to reaching the quarterfinals, when Selin went up 4-0 in the third and had a game point to go ahead 5-0. That's when the momentum shifted. Acuna, a sophomore, began his comeback getting it to 5-5. He would break Selin to go ahead 6-5, but Selin got it back to force a tiebreaker. Selin led the breaker 4-3, but Acuna won four straight points to even the match at 3-3.
That left senior Kristofer Stahlberg playing Pepperdine senior Stefan Suter on court two. Graeff won a tight first set 6-4, and then Stahlberg took the second set 6-4. Graeff broke at 3-2 in the third and cruised from there for a 6-2 win to clinch the victory for Pepperdine.
Hartman will compete in the singles championships, which begin on Wednesday following the team competition.
2002 NCAA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS - College Station, Texas
Round of 16
#8 Pepperdine 4
#9 Ole Miss 3
SINGLES
#1 Alex Hartman (OM) def. Al Garland (PU) 7-6(2), 6-1
#2 Sebastien Graeff (PU) def. Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
#3 Catalin Gard (OM) def. Calle Hansen (PU) 6-0, 6-3
#4 Diego Acuna (PU) def. Martin Selin (OM) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4)
#5 Johan Berg (PU) def. Paul Ciorascu (OM) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
#6 Claes Lindholm (OM) def. Sebastien Graeff (PU) 6-1, 6-4
DOUBLES
#1 Berg-Garland (PU) def. Stahlberg-Selin (OM) 8-1
#2 Graeff-Suter (PU) def. Hartman-Lindholm (OM) 8-5
#3 Gard-Patrick Chucri (OM) vs. Hansen-Wright (PU) 6-6, sus.
