The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Men's Tennis Clinches Share Of SEC West Title
4/8/2005 | Men's Tennis
April 8, 2005
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 4 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team overcame losing the doubles point to claim all six singles matches for a 6-1 win over 22nd-ranked South Carolina Friday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. With Mississippi State's 7-0 loss to Florida, the Rebels clinched at least a share of the SEC Western Division title, their fourth consecutive such championship.
Ole Miss improved to 18-2 overall and 8-1 in the SEC as they get ready to host No. 7 Florida Sunday at 1 p.m. on Senior Day. South Carolina fell to 17-7 overall and 5-4 in the SEC. With their win over State, Florida moved to 9-0 in the SEC, so Sunday's match could decide the overall SEC Championship. The Rebels have now won 24 straight regular season home matches dating back to April 6, 2003.
It looked as if the Rebels would win the doubles point. Freshmen Jakob Klaeson and Bram ten Berge won their match at No. 3 doubles 8-2, but USC claimed the No. 1 position by the same score. The Rebel duo of Erling Tveit and Fredrik Aarum led USC's Tom Eklund and Jaime Cuellar 7-3, before seeing the Gamecock pair win six straight games for the 9-7 score to clinch the point.
Tveit and Aarum both came right back in singles to post impressive straight set victories to give the Rebels a 2-1 lead. Tveit downed USC's Cuellar 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 singles to even the match and improve to 8-1 in the SEC. He is now 11-1 at No. 3 singles.
Aarum gave Ole Miss the lead for good with his 6-2, 6-3 win over Gamecock Ben Atkinson at No. 6 singles.
Senior Catalin Gard made it 3-1 after finishing off Eklund 7-5, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. He improved to 7-2 in the SEC and 16-3 overall at No. 1 singles. Gard will play his final regular season home match at the tennis center Sunday.
Sophomore Eric Claesson snapped a three-match losing streak by defeating USC's Pedro Rodrigues 6-4, 6-3 on court two to clinch the match for the Rebels.
"At times in sports you're going to experience bad luck and that is what happened in doubles," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "But, give South Carolina credit, they played well and we didn't put them away.
"I was happy with the way we responded in singles. Erling and Freddy were the last ones on in doubles, and they came back and won their singles in straight sets. That speaks volumes in overcoming adversity. We clinched at least a share of the SEC West today, and that is great."
Ole Miss won the remaining two courts in third sets. Klaeson came back to beat Dimitry Babenko 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 5 spot, and Juan Pablo Di Cesare rallied to defeat Geraldo Knorr 5-7, 6-2, 1-0(7).
"Now, we have set the stage for Sunday after getting through today," Chadwick said. "We beat them (Florida) indoors, but this is a new match.
The Rebels posted a 4-1 win over the Gators to advance to the semifinals at the National Team Indoor in Chicago back in February.
DOUBLES
#1 Rodrigues/Knorr (USC) def. Gard/Claesson (OM) 8-2
#2 Eklund/Cuellar (USC) def. Tveit/Aarum (OM) 9-7
#3 ten Berge/Klaeson (OM) def. Atkinson/Babenko (USC) 8-2
SINGLES
#1 Catalin Gard (OM) def. Tom Eklund (USC) 7-5, 6-2
#2 Eric Claesson (OM) def. Pedro Rodrigues (USC) 6-4, 6-3
#3 Erling Tveit (OM) def. Jaime Cuellar (USC) 6-2, 6-2
#4 Jakob Klaeson (OM) def. Dimitry Babenko (USC) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
#5 Juan Pablo Di Cesare (OM) def. Geraldo Knorr (USC) 5-7, 6-2, 1-0(7)
#6 Fredrik Aarum (OM) def. Ben Atkinson (USC) 6-2, 6-3
