The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis Heads To Kentucky Seeking Outright SEC Title
4/15/2004 | Men's Tennis
April 15, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 5 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team heads to Lexington, Ky., this weekend to face the 16th-ranked Wildcats for the outright Southeastern Conference title. The two teams will battle Sunday at Noon at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.
The Rebels, at 18-3 overall and 8-2 in the SEC, clinched a share of the SEC title last weekend with a 7-0 win over Mississippi State. They lead Georgia, Kentucky, Florida and LSU by one match. Florida and LSU play each other this weekend.
"This is what you play for," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "To have the opportunity to win the overall SEC title is what we've worked towards all season. Kentucky has a good team and they feature one of the best players in the country. It should be a great match, and hopefully we can come out on top and bring the overall crown to Oxford."
Ole Miss is coming off a 6-1 win over South Florida on Wednesday to close out the regular season home schedule with a perfect 12-0 record. Junior Catalin Gard, leads the Rebels with a 18-3 record at No. 1 singles. He is 9-1 in the SEC and will attempt to post the second best conference record by a Rebel. Former All-American Johan Hede went 11-0 in the SEC in 1996, and current senior Paul Ciorascu posted an 11-0 record at No. 3 singles last year.
Kentucky enters the final weekend of SEC play with a 16-7 overall record, 6-3 in the SEC. The Wildcats are coming off a split last week, dropping a tough 4-3 loss to top-ranked Illinois and then defeating Vanderbilt, 4-3. Kentucky will host Mississippi State Friday, before welcoming the Rebels.
Sunday's match will feature a battle between two of the premier players in the country. Gard, ranked No. 4 in the nation, will square off against Kentucky's Jesse Witten, this week's SEC Player of the Week. Witten is ranked No. 8 in singles, and he teams with Rahim Esmail for a No. 14 doubles ranking. They will battle the Reb duo of Gard and Ciorascu, ranked No. 7, at No. 1 doubles.
Ole Miss has won two in a row over Kentucky. The Rebels defeated the Wildcats 4-1 last year in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor and then posted a 7-0 shut out in the regular season meeting in Oxford. Kentucky's last win (4-3) came in the quarterfinal round of the 2002 SEC Tournament in Knoxville, Tenn.
Fans who wish to follow the match can do so by going to www.olemisssports.com and clicking on the link on the right side of the page.
