The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
SEC Championships - LSU
Men's Tennis Survives LSU At SEC Tournament
4/22/2005 | Men's Tennis
April 22, 2005
ATHENS, Ga. -
Sophomore Eric Claesson came up big for the top-seeded Ole Miss men's tennis team for the second weekend in a row, outlasting LSU's Ken Skupski at No. 2 singles to clinch a 4-3 win for the Rebels in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 SEC Tournament Friday. The Rebels (21-2) advanced to the semifinals for the 10th time and will face Tennessee, a 4-2 winner over South Carolina, Saturday at 11 a.m. ET.
With the match all squared at 3, Claesson, this week's SEC Player of the Week, found a way to win while battling heat exhaustion. Claesson won the first set 7-5, but Skupski, ranked No. 30 in the nation, got the second 6-3. At 4-4 in the third, Claesson broke to go up 5-4. Skupski had triple break point, but Claesson won three straight points to get to deuce. On match point, the two played a long rally, before Skupski missed into the net as the Rebels won 4-3.
"You had the No. 3 and No. 12 teams in the country playing in what amounted to our first round," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "That shows you how tough the conference is. LSU (19-8) played like a top 10 team today, and we were very fortunate to win.
"Eric had to dig deep today, and I think even he was surprised at what he found. In that third set he was down 15-40 in three games and 15-40 in the deciding game. It was a gutsy performance." Claesson, whose comeback win last Saturday against Mississippi State propelled the Rebels to their second consecutive SEC Championship, avenged a loss to Skupski in the regular season match.
"It was a long match, and I was really tired," Claesson said. "When you get to the third set of a match like that, it is all mental. It was a tough match. We battled in the third set for a long time. I was just a little bit luckier. I knew I had to win or we were going home."
Just like in the previous encounter this season, the Rebels found themselves down 1-0 after dropping the doubles point. LSU won 8-4 at No. 1 doubles, but the other two matches were hotly-contested. Ole Miss claimed the No. 3 spot 9-8. At No. 2 doubles, Ole Miss' Erling Tveit and Fredrik Aarum trailed the LSU team of Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston 7-4, before rallying to even the score. That match would go to a tiebreaker, which LSU won to secure the first point of the match.
In singles, Ole Miss got off to a good start, winning four of the first sets. LSU won the first set at No. 4 and at No. 5.
At No. 4 singles, Peter Richman handed junior Juan Pablo Di Cesare only his second dual match loss this season, 6-3, 6-3, to put his team up 2-0.
Ole Miss got on the board when freshman Erling Tveit downed LSU's Jason Hazley 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. Tveit improved to 13-2 at No. 3 singles.
Rebel senior Catalin Gard lost only twice in the SEC this season, and one of them came against Friday's opponent, Mark Growcott. This time Gard prevailed, winning a close first set 7-5 and then jumping out to a huge lead in the second set on his way to a 6-1 win to even the match. Gard is now 19-3 at No. 1 singles and has won five in a row.
Ole Miss took its first lead (3-2) in the match as Fredrik Aarum recorded a 6-2, 6-4 win over Tiger Colt Gaston on court six.
LSU evened the match when Tiger Danny Bryan held off Rebel freshman Jakob Klaeson 7-5, 7-6 to set up the final match on court two. Klaeson trailed 5-2 in the second, but rallied to force the tiebreaker.
2005 SEC Men's Tennis Tournament - Athens, Ga.
Quarterfinals
#1 Ole Miss 4 #8 LSU 3
DOUBLES
#1 Growcott/Skupski (LSU) def. Gard/Claesson (OM) 8-4
#2 Bryan/Gaston (LSU) def. Tveit/Aarum (OM) 9-8
#3 ten Berge/Klaeson (OM) def. Hazley/Richman (LSU) 9-8
SINGLES
#1 Catalin Gard (OM) def. Mark Growcott (LSU) 7-5, 6-1
#2 Eric Claesson (OM) def. Ken Skupski (LSU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
#3 Erling Tveit (OM) def. Jason Hazley (LSU) 6-4, 6-2
#4 Peter Richman (LSU) def. Juan Pablo Di Cesare (OM) 6-3, 6-3
#5 Danny Bryan (LSU) def. Jakob Klaeson (OM) 7-5, 7-6
#6 Fredrik Aarum (OM) def. Colt Gaston (LSU) 6-2, 6-4
