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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
ITA All-American Championships
Ole Miss' Gard Advances To Third Round At All-American
10/7/2004 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 7, 2004
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Ole Miss men's tennis senior Catalin Gard came into the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships with a target on his back as the No. 1 seed and current No. 1 ranked player in the nation. But, he avoided the upset, by winning his first two matches Thursday to advance to the third round at the Champions Club.
Playing in his first collegiate event of the season, Gard downed Nejc Smole of Denver, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. He followed that up with a 7-5, 6-3 win over 31st-ranked Derek Spice of Wake Forest.
"Coming in as the top seed, we knew everybody would be gunning for Cat," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "Cat played well in the first two rounds. The guy from Wake Forest was a pretty solid player. After Cat got the first set, he stepped it up in the second."
Gard, the 2004 SEC Player of the Year, will face 17th-ranked Conor Niland of California in the third round Friday. The two faced each other last year in the first round of the ITA National Indoor Championships, with Gard taking a 6-4, 6-4 win.
Eight of the top 15 seeds advanced through the opening two rounds on Thursday. Air Force's Shannon Buck registered the biggest upset of the day, knocking third-seeded Jesse Witten of Kentucky out in the second round 6-3, 6-1. Buck also beat Witten, then a No. 8 seed, in last year's Icy Hot opening round.
The Icy Hot/ ITA Men's All-American Championships offer the first national singles and doubles titles of the season, and are followed by the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the third event is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May. The main draw includes 46 of the top 50 players in the preseason ITA singles rankings.
ICY HOT/ITA ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Main Draw Singles
First round - Catalin Gard (OM) def. Nejc Smole (DU) 6-2, 6-1. Second round - Gard (OM) def. Derek Spice (WF) 7-5, 6-3.
