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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis To Host Tennessee-Chattanooga Sunday
1/22/2004 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 22, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 6 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team, fresh of a successful weekend at the SEC Indoor Championships, will host Tennessee-Chattanooga in its season opener Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center.
The Rebels, who were picked to win the SEC overall championship in the preseason coaches poll, return four of the top six from last year's team that reached the NCAA Elite Eight and won the SEC Western Division Championship for the second consecutive year. Leading the way is junior Catalin Gard, who earned All-America and All-SEC honors in 2003 and is ranked No. 20 in the nation.
Joining Gard at the top is fellow All-SEC performers Paul Ciorascu and Claes Lindholm. The seniors are both ranked in the preseason national rankings and both reached the quarterfinals at the SEC Indoor Championships this past weekend. Ciorascu will attempt to follow up his outstanding season last year, in which he became just the second Rebel to go undefeated in the SEC.
Junior Karim Alayli is back after going 11-5 at No. 6 singles in his first season with the Rebels. He won eight of his last nine matches and posted an 8-2 mark in the SEC, including rallying to clinch a huge win on the road against Auburn.
The Rebels boast four highly touted newcomers that makes this one of the deepest teams in Chadwick's tenure at Ole Miss. Juan Pablo Di Cesare one of the top junior players in Argentina is ready to roll after becoming eligible in January. Eric Claesson was the No.1 ranked player in under 18s in Sweden and got the attention of coaches at the SEC Indoor last weekend, reaching the semifinals in doubles.
Fredrik Aarum of Oslo, Norway, joined the team in the fall and posted an impressive 9-5 record. Benjamin Carlotti of Paris, France, was one of the top junior players in under 18s and reached the quarterfinals in doubles at the French National Championships.
Tennessee-Chattanooga opens the season Friday by hosting Alabama-Birmingham. The Mocs will be led by John Hagenstefer, who takes over at No. 1 singles for departing 2001 Southern Conference Player of the Year Jason Ontog.
Rebel assistant coach Jeff Clark coached the men's and women's teams at UTC from 1999-2001. He led the Mocs to the Southern Conference Tournament title in 2000. The team earned the university's first-ever automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals and took on Tennessee in Knoxville. He coached Ontog (now an assistant with the Lady Mocs), who finished his career nationally-ranked in singles.
