.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Vanderbilt
Men's Tennis Falls To No. 14 Vanderbilt 4-3
3/23/2003 | Men's Tennis
March 23, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 6 ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team dropped a disappointing 4-3 match to 14th-ranked Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. The Rebels fell to 12-3 overall and 4-2 in the SEC, while Vanderbilt improved to 12-2 and 4-2 in league play.
Ole Miss split the weekend matches, downing 10th-ranked Kentucky 7-0 on Friday. The Vanderbilt loss snapped a seven-match winning streak for the Rebels.
Vanderbilt took command early, by sweeping all three doubles for the opening point. The Rebels fell behind further, as the Commodores won the first set on four of the six courts in singles. Paul Ciorascu, who is ranked No. 25 in the nation, evened the match when he downed Matt Lockin 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 singles. He improved to 13-2 in dual matches and has won nine of his last 10.
In the feature match of the day, Rebel senior Alex Hartman, ranked No. 19, found the going tough against the nation's No. 2 player Bobby Reynolds. Reynolds handed Hartman a 6-1, 6-2 loss to give Vanderbilt a 2-1 lead. It marked Hartman's second loss to Reynolds this season, as he also lost to him in the final of the SEC Indoor. Reynolds has won 22 in a row.
Two positions that came up big in the last three conference wins for the Rebels, No. 5 and 6 singles, fell behind early and couldn't recover. Senior Patrick Chucri dropped a 6-3, 6-2 decision to Lewis Smith at No. 6 singles, as the Commodores built a 3-1 lead. Moments later, VU's Zach Dailey finished off Rebel Karim Alayli 6-3, 6-2 on court five to clinch the win.
"We knew this was perhaps the best team in the history of Vanderbilt's program," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "They played like it today. They played extremely well at No. 1 singles. (Bobby) Reynolds is playing the best tennis of any player in the country right now. We did a good job at two, three and four singles. Vanderbilt played exceptional at five and six, because we thought those were two matches we could win. They won the match by sweeping us on those two courts."
Claes Lindholm improved to 11-2 in dual matches with his 6-4, 6-4 win over Scott Brown at the No. 4 spot. That made it 4-2.
Sophomore Catalin Gard, ranked No. 29 in the nation, rallied to knock off 13th-ranked Chad Harris in three sets. Harris won a close tiebreaker in the first set 7-6(6), but then Gard battled to a second-set tiebreak win, 7-6(9) to force a final set. A supertiebreaker was played for the third set. Gard took charge early and held on to win it 10-7 for the final 4-3 score. After dropping his first two conference matches, Gard has won five straight and is now 11-3 at No. 2 singles.
"We appreciate the crowd support for both matches this weekend," Chadwick said. "Vanderbilt has to come back to town, and we will be ready."
The Rebels will hit the road this weekend to face No. 17 Georgia on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and then travel to Knoxville for a match against Tennessee on Sunday at 1 p.m.
#14 Vanderbilt 4
#6 Ole Miss 3
SINGLES
#1 Bobby Reynolds (VU) def. Alex Hartman (OM) 6-1, 6-2
#2 Catalin Gard (OM) def. Chad Harris (VU) 6-7(6), 7-6(9), 1-0 (7)
#3 Paul Ciorascu (OM) def. Matt Lockin (VU) 6-2, 6-3
#4 Claes Lindholm (OM) def. Scott Brown (VU) 6-4, 6-4
#5 Zach Dailey (VU) def. Karim Alayli (OM) 6-3, 6-2
#6 Lewis Smith (VU) def. Patrick Chucri (OM) 6-3, 6-2
DOUBLES
#1 Reynolds-Smith (VU) def. Hartman-Lindholm (OM) 8-5
#2 Brown-Harris (VU) def. Gard-Alayli (OM) 8-5
#3 Dailey-Larsen (VU) def. Ciorascu-Chucri (OM) 8-4
