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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Middle Tennessee Fall Invitational
Rebel Netters Victorious at Middle Tennessee Fall Invitational
9/22/2002 | Men's Tennis
The ranked flight competition was broken down into two divisions, consisting of round robin play between nationally ranked competitors. Represented in the ranked flight event were Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Louisville and host Middle Tennessee in addition to Ole Miss. Rebel senior Alex Hartman did not take part in the weekend's events due to injury.
Ciorascu, ranked 69th nationally, finished first in his division with a 3-1 overall record which included a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the no. 10 player in the nation, Daniel Klemetz of Middle Tennessee. Ciorascu's other two wins came against Louisville's Cody Conley (6-4, 6-4) and Middle Tennessee's Michael Staniak (6-2, 6-2). The lone setback of the weekend was a 6-3, 7-5 loss to Chad Harris of Vanderbilt.
The 67th-ranked Gard, finishing first in his respective division, completed the weekend undefeated. His 3-0 record included wins over Staniak of Middle Tennessee (6-4, 6-4), Mark Dietrich of Tennessee (6-4, 4-6, 6-4) and Louisville's Conley (7-5, 7-6(8-6)).
Ciorascu and Gard also competed in flight 1 doubles, defeating Rahim Esmail and Matt Emery of Kentucky 8-2 in the first round. The Rebel pair then advanced, by default, to the finals over Middle Tennessee's Daniel Klemetz and Kirk Jackson. However, the flight was never completed as Sunday's final round was cancelled due to weather.
Following the successful weekend, Rebel head coach Billy Chadwick felt his players proved much about themselves with their performance.
"Catalin and Paul demonstrated that they are two of the most improved players in the country as well as two of the best in the country," said Chadwick. "It's very exciting for us, as a team, to know that we have two players of their caliber helping us to succeed."
