The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Netters To Host New Orleans In Season Opener Friday
1/26/2005 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 26, 2005
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 6 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team will kick off the 2005 campaign Friday against the University of New Orleans. The match will be played indoors at the Gillom Sports Center at 2 p.m.
The Rebels, who won the overall SEC Championship in 2004 in addition to their third consecutive Western Division title, were picked as the top team in the SEC West in the 2005 Preseason Coaches Poll. Ole Miss returns five of the top seven from last year's SEC Championship squad.
"We are excited about this year," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "The returning guys have supplied great leadership in preparation for the season, and we have an outstanding group of freshman who will be fun to watch. We look forward to defending our SEC Championship."
Leading the Rebel charge in 2005 is the nation's No. 1 ranked player, Catalin Gard. Last year's SEC Player of the Year, Gard went 10-1 in the SEC at No. 1 singles to become the third Rebel to nab the league's top honor. This past fall Gard captured the year's first major collegiate event, the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships, defeating last year's Pac-10 Player of the Year, Sam Warburg of Stanford.
Gard will have plenty of help this year, beginning with sophomores Fredrik Aarum and Eric Claesson, who were huge catalysts in the team's championship run last year. The pair combined to go 26-9 at the Nos. 5 and 6 positions. Aarum, one of the top freshman in the SEC last year, posted an 8-1 record against league foes, and Claesson went 6-1 at No. 6 singles in conference play.
Also returning from the 2004 lineup is junior Juan Pablo Di Cesare, who after sitting out the 2003 season, made his debut for the Rebels. Di Cesare registered a 6-4 record in the SEC and reached the round of 16 at this year's SEC Indoor Championships.
Senior Karim Alayli has posted some big wins for the Rebels during the last two years. In 2004, he teamed with Gard, late in the season, to post a 5-1 record.
The Rebels have once again added outstanding talent from the junior ranks, and all three served notice to the rest of the conference at the SEC Indoor Championships to start the season. Bram ten Berge, a native of the Netherlands, advanced to the second round before losing in three close sets to the nation's 12th-ranked player and eventual champion, Ken Skupski of LSU.
Jakob Klaeson brings tremendous credentials after an outstanding junior career in Sweden, in which he won the Swedish 18-under championship in both singles and doubles. Klaeson displayed his outstanding credentials to the rest of the league at the SEC Indoor, knocking off Florida's Nestor Briceno (ranked 46th in the country) in the second round and playing a close match against last year's SEC Freshman of the Year, John Isner of Georgia, in the third round.
Erling Tveit comes in as the No. 1 ranked player from Norway. Tveit nearly upset Isner (ranked No. 18 in the nation) in the second round of the SEC Indoor, and then teamed up with Aarum to advance to the quarterfinals in doubles.
The Privateers, members of the Sunbelt Conference, finished 14-11 in 2004. They return four seniors, led by Luka Bernard, who went 11-8 last year. New Orleans was scheduled to open the season on Jan. 23 against Xavier in New Orleans, but weather forced the match to be postponed.
