The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Memphis
Men's Tennis Defeats Memphis 6-1
3/2/2005 | Men's Tennis
March 2, 2005
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 5 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team defeated 73rd-ranked Memphis 6-1 Wednesday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center to improve to 8-1 on the season as they get set to begin Southeastern Conference play this weekend.
Ole Miss played much better in doubles against Memphis than they did in their last match against Middle Tennessee, posting an 8-3 win at No. 1 and an 8-5 victory at No. 3 to claim the 1-0 lead. The Rebels improved to 51-3 when they win the doubles point dating back to the 2002 season.
Memphis' No. 1 player, Alex Bucewicz came into the match looking to upset his second top 25 opponent in a week, but Rebel senior Catalin Gard, who is ranked No. 4 in the nation, had other ideas, quickly taking care of Bucewicz, 6-3, 6-0 on court one to put the Rebels up 2-0. Gard improved to 7-1 at No. 1 singles and needs eight wins to become the third Rebel to record 100 career victories.
Freshman Erling Tveit moved to 3-0 at No. 3 singles and 7-0 in dual matches with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Tiger Alex Jago, making it 3-0 Ole Miss. Junior Juan Pablo Di Cesare clinched the match when he finished off Scott Felsenthal of Memphis 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6 singles. He improved to 5-0 at No. 6 singles.
The Rebels' picked up two more points at Nos. 4 and 2 singles. Fredrik Aarum beat Tiger Martin Tamla 6-4, 6-2, and Eric Claesson held off UM's James Spence, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
Memphis got their only point, when Mark Finnegan defeated Rebel freshman Jakob Klaeson 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 on court five.
Ole Miss has now won 18 straight regular season home matches dating back to April 6, 2003. The Rebels have won 98 of their last 108 matches at home.
"We were much improved in doubles," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "We played with a lot more energy and adjusted better to the outside. There is so much parity in college tennis these days, that you can't take anyone lightly. There is not much difference in the top teams and the bottom teams. The difference today, was we played the big points better. Now we turn our attention to the SEC."
The Rebels begin defense of their SEC Championship Friday against Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. Sunday, the Rebels will host Kentucky at 1 p.m.
DOUBLES
#1 Gard/Claesson (OM) def. Spence/Felsenthal (UM) 8-3
#2 Klaeson/ten Berge (OM) def. Tamla/Bucewicz (UM) 9-7
#3 Di Cesare/Aarum (OM) def. Finnegan/Jago (UM) 8-5
SINGLES
#1 Catalin Gard (OM) def. Alex Bucewicz (UM) 6-3, 6-0
#2 Eric Claesson (OM) def. James Spence (UM) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
#3 Erling Tveit (OM) def. Alex Jago (UM) 6-4, 7-5
#4 Fredrik Aarum (OM) def. Martin Tamla (UM) 6-4, 6-2
#5 Mark Finnegan (UM) def. Jakob Klaeson (OM) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
#6 Juan Pablo Di Cesare (OM) def. Scott Felsenthal (UM) 6-4, 6-3
