Men's Tennis Places Four On All-SEC Team

April 16, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Ole Miss men's tennis players Alex Hartman and Claes Lindholm were named to the 2003 All-SEC first team, and Paul Ciorascu and Catalin Gard earned All-SEC second team honors as the conference postseason awards were announced Wednesday night at the SEC Tournament banquet in Oxford, Miss.

Hartman, a senior All-American from Klippan, Sweden, earned All-SEC honors for the fourth year, becoming the first player in the history of the program to earn All-SEC honors all four years. Ranked No. 9 in the nation, Hartman owns a 15-5 record at No. 1 singles. This season he became only the second Rebel ever to win 100 career matches and now stands at 103 victories.

Lindholm teams with Hartman at No. 1 doubles for a 15-3 record and a No. 11 national ranking. They are the top ranked doubles team in the SEC. Lindholm has also been a major contributor in singles, going 16-2 in dual matches.

Ciorascu, a junior from Boras, Sweden, became the second player in the history of the Rebel program to go undefeated in the SEC regular season at 11-0. Former All-American Johan Hede did so in 1996. Ciorascu, presently ranked No. 27 in the nation, owns a 36-10 overall record, 18-2 in dual matches.

Gard a sophomore from Galati, Romania, is ranked No. 21 in the nation with a 15-4 record in dual matches. He has won nine of his last 10. Gard posted a 7-3 record in the SEC.

"I am very proud of Alex, Claes, Paul and Catalin," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "They are in many ways the heart of this team. They have been consistent performers throughout the season and all were instrumental in us claiming the SEC West Championship."

Ole Miss tied with Vanderbilt for the most players selected to the All-SEC team, with four. Florida was second with three. Vanderbilt's Ken Flach was named the Coach-of-the-Year and Commodore Bobby Reynold's was named the Player-of-the-Year in the SEC. Florida's Janne Holmia was tabbed as the SEC Freshman-of-the-Year.

The Rebels have had a player named to the All-SEC team 10 consecutive years and 11 of the last 12 years. The SEC is arguably the top conference in the nation with three teams ranked in the latest top 10 and nine in the top 25.

2003 SEC MEN'S TENNIS POSTSEASON AWARDS
ALL-SEC FIRST TEAM
Rameez Junaid, Auburn
Janne Holmia, Florida
Hamid Mirzadeh, Florida
Bo Hodge, Georgia
Jesse Witten, Kentucky
Bryan Fisher, LSU
Jason Hazley, LSU
Alex Hartman, Ole Miss
Claes Lindholm, Ole Miss
Romain Ambert, Mississippi State
Chad Harris, Vanderbilt
Bobby Reynolds, Vanderbilt

ALL-SEC SECOND TEAM
Maxim Belski, Alabama
Chris McDonald, Florida
Nicolas Boeker, Georgia
Peter Richman, LSU
Catalin Gard, Ole Miss
Paul Ciorascu, Ole Miss
Angelo Niculescu, South Carolina
Seth Rose, South Carolina
Mark Dietrich, Tennessee
Simon Rea, Tennessee
Scott Brown, Vanderbilt
Matt Lockin, Vanderbilt

Coach-of-the-Year: Ken Flach, Vanderbilt
Player-of-the-Year: Bobby Reynolds
Freshman-of-the-Year: Janne Holmia, Florida

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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