Men's Tennis Advances To NCAA Sweet Sixteen

May 11, 2003

OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 8 ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team held off a tough Auburn team 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Championships Sunday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center to advance to the "Sweet Sixteen"in Athens, Ga., next weekend. Ole Miss improved to 20-4, while Auburn ended its season at 16-10.

The Rebels, who will be making their second consecutive round of 16 appearance and ninth overall, will face Duke in the round of 16 Saturday, May 17. Times for the final 16 will be announced Monday.

Rebel sophomore Catalin Gard rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third set against Auburn's Gabor Zolton Pelva on court two to clinch the win. After losing the first set 6-3, Gard claimed the second 6-4. Down 3-1 in the deciding set, Gard tied it up at 3-3 and then served to go ahead 4-3. He broke Pelva to go up 5-3 and served it out to send the Rebels on to the final 16. It markedhe second day in a row for Gard to be the clinching match, as he also clinched the win over College of Charleston on Saturday.

"I was up 4-3 and then I broke him (Pelva)," Gard said. "I had 40-0 and then he hit two great serves. I won the last point and then I just had to serve well to hold serve. I served very well. I am very happy with my performance and excited to be going to the 'Sweet Sixteen'".

"This team was very determined to get to Athens," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "They knew to accomplish that, they were going to have to out fight a very tough Auburn team. That's what they did today. Every match was a cliffhanger. The most impressive thing was that when we made a mistake, we continued to fight. The one that showed great determination was Catalin Gard, being down 3-1 in the third and then finding a way to win. It was just clutch play from him. He wanted it more than his opponent."

Ole Miss got on the board first by winning the all-important doubles point. Gard and Paul Ciorascu downed Rodrigo Minozzo and Markus Schiller 8-3 at No. 2 doubles and then Auburn won at No. 1 doubles 8-3. Senior Patrick Chucri and sophomore Karim Alayli finished off Pelva and Tom George 8-4 at No. 3 doubles to give the Rebels the 1-0 lead.

It marked the first time in three meetings this season for the Rebels to win the doubles point against Auburn. Ole Miss won the two previous meetings after the losing the point. With the doubles point secure and a strong lineup in singles, head coach Billy Chadwick liked his chances for another win.

"It was exciting to get the doubles point," Chadwick said. "It is extremely important. For us to get the doubles point against them today, it put them in the corner. I give Auburn credit for fighting back."

Senior Alex Hartman gave the fans an exciting show in his last match at the tennis center. Hartman, who graduated from the University of Mississippi on Saturday, defeated Auburn's Rameez Junaid 6-4, 6-4 in the feature match on court one, to give the Rebels a 2-0 lead. Hartman, ranked No. 7 had lost to Junaid, ranked No. 14, two previous times this season, at the Region III Indoor in the fall and the regular season meeting.

Alayli took care of business on court six to set up Gard's clinching match. He won the first set against Auburn's Schiller 6-4 and then held a 5-2 lead in the second. Schiller would fight back to even it up at 5 before Alayli broke and held serve to win the match.

With courts four and three having just split sets and court five underway in the third, Gard sealed the victory with his third-set comeback. He has won six in a row and 12 of his last 13 matches.

"Where we stung them, was Alex beating Junaid at No. 1 singles." Chadwick said. "He had lost to him twice earlier this season. That was a big boost for us. All of a sudden, it was going to be tough for them to beat us. But then, they starting coming back and you saw that resilient Auburn team we talked about. It was great to see Catalin step up and close it out."

The Rebels have now won 14 in a row over Auburn including all three meetings this season. Ole Miss has won seven of its last eight heading into the round of 16 and improved to 7-1 at home in NCAA competition.

Ole Miss notched its fifth 20-win season in the history of the program. The Rebels will be looking to advance to the quarterfinals for the sixth time in the history of the program. They reached the final in 1995, the quarterfinals in 1996, the final four in 1997, the quarterfinals in 1998 and the final four in 1999.

N CAA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS - OXFORD, Miss.
Second Round
#1 Ole Miss 4
#2 Auburn 0

SINGLES
#1 Alex Hartman (OM) def. Rameez Junaid (AUB) 6-4, 6-4
#2 Catalin Gard (OM) def. Gabor Zolton Pelva (AUB) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
#3 Paul Ciorascu (OM) vs. Andy Colombo (AUB) 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 2-2, sus.
#4 Claes Lindholm (OM) vs. Rodrigo Minozzo (AUB) 7-5, 6-7(3), 0-1, sus.
#5 Patrick Chucri (OM) vs. Andre Boz (AUB) 6-4, 4-6, 2-4, sus.
#6 Karim Alayli (OM) def. Markus Schiller (AUB) 6-4, 7-5
DOUBLES
#1 Junaid-Colombo (AUB) def. Hartman-Lindholm (OM) 8-3
#2 Gard-Ciorascu (OM) def. Minozzo-Schiller (AUB) 8-3
#3 Chucri-Alayli (OM) def. Pelva-George (AUB) 8-4

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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