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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis To Compete In Southern Intercollegiate
9/22/2004 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 22, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team will kick off the 2004-05 season at the 37th annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships hosted by the University of Georgia Sept. 24-27 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. This year's field will consist of 27 teams and 151 players.
There will be three divisions in singles and two divisions of doubles. Several of the nation's top players will be competing in the four-day tournament including sixth-ranked Gabor Zolton Pelva of Auburn, who is the No. 1 seed. The Division I bracket features five players ranked in the top 50 nationally in singles.
In Division I singles, Ole Miss will have sophomores Fredrik Aarum, Eric Claesson, junior Juan Pablo Di Cesare, senior Karim Alayli and freshman Bram ten Berge competing.
"We are looking forward to getting the season started," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "This tournament traditionally has a strong field and this year is no different. We are hoping to have some great results and see where we stand early in the year."
Aarum posted a 14-4 dual match record in his freshman campaign in 2004, including an 8-1 record in the Southeastern Conference. He helped the Rebels win the overall SEC Championship, their third consecutive SEC Western Division title and earn a final national ranking of No. 5. He will face Bastian Moldhenke of the College of Charleston in the first round Friday.
Claesson finished 2004 with a 16-5 dual match record, including a 13-3 mark at No. 6 singles. He clinched the match against Kentucky on the road to give the Rebels' the SEC Championship. He will also face a player from the College of Charleston, Timo Seibert.
Di Cesare, who posted a 6-4 record in the SEC last year, will meet Shunsuke Shimizu of Tennessee Tech in the first round. Alayli will play Auburn's Alex Schweizer in the first round.
Ten Berge, who reached the finals of the First Guaranty Wildcard Tournament in Hammond, La., two weeks ago, will face Brett Hunter in the first round.