Rebel Netters Earn 14th Straight National Team Indoor Invite

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss men’s tennis team earned its 14th consecutive invitation to the prestigious USTA/ITA National Team Indoor, as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) announced the field for the 2007 championship Wednesday. The event, being hosted by the University of Illinois, will take place February 16-19 at the Midtown Tennis Club in Chicago.

Fourteen teams have been selected based on the voting from the preseason national rankings, including 2006 NCAA Champion Pepperdine, national runner-up and SEC Champion Georgia and NCAA semifinalists Texas and Baylor.  Rounding out the field is nine teams who advanced to last year’s NCAA Final 16: Duke, Illinois, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Stanford, UCLA and Virginia, as well as Pennsylvania.  Two more teams will be added in January after the Central and Mountain regions conduct their play-in tournaments. 

The National Team Indoor is regarded as the second best tournament in the nation behind the NCAA Championships.  The Rebels are the only SEC team to have qualified for the National Team Indoor 14 straight years and have the third longest consecutive appearance streak in the nation behind perennial national powers UCLA and Duke.

 “We are very excited to be included in this elite field,” head coach Billy Chadwick said.  “This tournament has become one of the top events each year, and we are looking forward to returning to Chicago, where two years ago we reached the Final Four.”

Ole Miss has reached the semifinals of this event two of the last three years and four times overall.  Last year, the Rebels defeated South Carolina in the first round before losing a tight 4-2 decision to eventual NCAA champion, Pepperdine.  On the final day, the Rebels defeated then No. 1 ranked Florida to finish tied for fifth.   The Rebels also advanced to the semifinals in 1996 and 1997.

In 2006, the Rebels captured their fifth consecutive SEC Western Division title, finished second overall in the conference (behind Georgia), reached the SEC Tournament final and advanced to the NCAA “Sweet Sixteen” for the 11^th time. 

The Rebels return six of the top seven from last year’s championship team, led by junior Erling Tveit, ranked No. 8 in the nation.   Tveit reached the NCAA semifinals in singles last year and became the Rebels’ 18^th All-American. 

The latest individual national rankings as well as the preseason team rankings will come out in January.

The Rebels open the 2007 season Jan. 19-22 at the SEC Indoor Championships.  Their first dual match will be Jan. 24 when they host Murray State.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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