The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis Continues On The Road This Weekend
3/29/2006 | Men's Tennis
March 29, 2006
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team, who moved up to No. 10 in this week's Fila National Rankings, continues on the road this weekend at No. 19 LSU and No. 16 Arkansas. The Rebels will face LSU Friday at 2 p.m., at the Dub Robinson Tennis Stadium.
The Rebels head into the weekend looking to maintain their position in the SEC race. Georgia currently leads the standings at 6-0, but Ole Miss is right behind at 5-1. The two teams will meet on April 9 in Oxford.
First, as head coach Billy Chadwick notes, the Rebels must take care of business against two top 20 teams this weekend.
"We put ourselves in a good position with two solid wins last weekend, Chadwick said. "This weekend will determine a lot as to how the conference race shapes up. Baton Rouge is always a tough place to play, and they (LSU) just beat Florida. Arkansas is very good team, who is playing well right now."
The Rebels are a combined 47-2 in their last seven matches. A big reason for the success of late, is solid play up and down the lineup. Erling Tveit has won 10 of his last 11, Eric Claesson has won 10 in a row and Bram ten Berge, Juan Pablo Di Cesare and Jakob Klaeson have all won seven in a row.
LSU comes into the weekend with an 11-7 overall record, 4-2 in the SEC. They are coming off a 4-3 upset of then No. 8 Florida last Sunday. Senior captain Danny Bryan was named the SEC Player of the Week as he clinched the win over Florida. The Tigers are led by junior Ken Skupski, who owns a 24-7 overall record, 14-4 at No. 1 singles. He is ranked No. 22 in the nation in singles and No. 12 in doubles with Mark Growcott. They are 9-4 at No. 1 doubles. The Tigers' No. 2 doubles tandem of Colt Gaston and Danny Bryan is ranked No. 14 with a 13-1 record.
Ole Miss has won five in a row over LSU, including two wins last year. The Rebels defeated the Tigers 4-3 in the regular season meeting in Oxford and then again (4-3) in the quarterfinal round of the SEC Tournament.
On Sunday, the Rebels will head to Fayetteville for a 1 p.m. match against the Razorbacks.
Arkansas enters the weekend at 12-6 overall and 3-3 in the SEC. The Razorbacks split their weekend home conference matches with Florida and South Carolina. Arkansas is led by senior Adrian Zguns, who is ranked No. 13 in the nation and needs two wins to notch his 100th career victory. The Razorbacks have four players ranked in singles. Matt Roberts is ranked No. 49, Rohan Gajjar is ranked No. 74 and Blake Strode is ranked No. 102.
The Rebels have won 15 in a row over Arkansas. Ole Miss won last year's meeting 6-1 in Oxford. The last time the Razorbacks defeated the Rebels came in 1988, a 6-0 win in Oxford.
Both matches will feature live scoring. To access the live scoring, go to www.olemisssports.com and click on the link.
