The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Portland
Rebel Netters Down Portland 6-0
2/15/2006 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 15, 2006
PORTLAND, Ore. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team, ranked No. 5 in the nation, proved too much for the University of Portland, downing the Pilots 6-0 Wednesday afternoon. The Rebels, who will now head to Seattle for the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor, improved to 4-0 on the season, while Portland fell to 3-5.
The two teams elected to begin the match with the bottom three positions of singles. Junior Eric Claesson was not in the lineup for this match, thus everyone moved up a spot.
Sophomore transfer Robbye Poole gave Ole Miss a 1-0 lead with his third straight set win of the season, downing Portland's Joel Kincaid, 6-1, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. The Rebels went up 2-0 with Jakob Klaeson's win at No. 6 singles. After being down 0-2 to start the match, he won a first set tiebreaker 7-5 and then dominated the second set 6-1.
Freshman Ahmed El Tabakh, playing in his first dual match, defeated Pilot Luis Gonzalez, 7-6(3), 6-2 at No. 6 singles to increase the lead to 3-0.
With Claesson out, Rebel sophomore Bram ten Berge played at No. 2 singles for the first time in his career and was impressive, cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Darragh Rowan to clinch the victory. He improved to 18-6 on the year and 4-0 in dual matches.
Juan Pablo Di Cesare downed Alex Strom, 6-2, 6-0 at the No. 3 position, and then Erling Tveit rallied to win his match in three sets for the sweep. Tveit, ranked No. 26, has won 11 of his last 12 matches dating back to the fall and goes to 4-0 at No. 1 singles.
Two of the doubles were played with Ole Miss winning at No. 2 doubles, 8-4 and Portland claiming the No. 3 spot, 8-4. Because the No. 1 doubles match was not played, neither team won that point.
The Rebels first round opponent in the National Team Indoor will be Southeastern Conference foe South Carolina. The Gamecocks are ranked No. 10 in the nation and enter the tournament at 6-1. The match will be played at 10 a.m. CT Friday.
DOUBLES
#1 Tveit/El Tabakh (OM) vs. Kennel/Loucks (PU) DNP
#2 ten Berge/Klaeson (OM) def. Strom/Rowan (PU) 8-4
#3 Kincaid/Carlos Machado (PU) def. Di Cesare/Poole (OM) 8-4
SINGLES
#1 Erling Tveit (OM) def. Matthew Loucks (PU) 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-5
#2 Bram ten Berge (OM) def. Darragh Rowan (PU) 6-2, 6-1
#3 Juan Pablo Di Cesare (OM) def. Alex Strom (PU) 6-2, 6-0
#4 Robbye Poole (OM) def. Joel Kincaid (PU) 6-1, 6-3
#5 Jakob Klaeson (OM) def. Scott Kennel (PU) 7-6(5), 6-1
#6 Ahmed El Tabakh (OM) def. Luis Gonzalez (PU) 7-6(3), 6-2
