The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
NCAA Second Round - Florida State/Auburn
REBEL NETTERS ADVANCE TO NCAA SWEET SIXTEEN
5/14/2006 | Men's Tennis
OXFORD,Miss. -- The No. 14 seed Ole Miss men's tennis team punched its ticket to the NCAA "Sweet Sixteen" with a 4-2 win over Florida State Sunday afternoon in front of nearly 400 fans at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. The Rebels will face the No. 3 seed, Texas, Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. in Palo Alto, Calif.
Rebel sophomore Bram ten Berge finished off FSU's Sam Chang 7-6(3), 6-3 at No. 3 singles to clinch Ole Miss' 11th "Sweet Sixteen" appearance.
Ole Miss improved to 22-5, while Florida State ended its season at 18-11.
With Ole Miss leading 3-2 and courts three and six remaining, all eyes were focused on the pavilions. ten Berge won a first-set tiebreak, 7-3, and then raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. But, Chang raised his game and rallied to take a 4-3 lead. ten Berge faced a 5-1 deficit last year in the NCAA quarterfinals against Georgia, before rallying to clinch the team's semifinal berth. He did it again on Sunday, winning three straight games to clinch the Rebel victory and his 30th match of the year.
"In the first set we never got a chance to break each other," ten Berge said. "I was lucky enough to be very steady in the tiebreaker. That really shook him. I ran out to 3-0 early in the second, because he started making a lot of mistakes. I had a game point at 3-0 to make it 4-0, but he nailed a couple of returns to make it 3-1. From 3-0 to 3-4 I didn't make that many mistakes, he just started playing really good. I was fortunate to win the game at 4-4 and that gave me my confidence back.
"This gives us a lot of confidence for California. I feel like everyone can still improve in singles. Everybody's tired from exams and to come and put this kind of match together is great team spirit. I love it."
On court six, the two were all even in the second with Ole Miss up a set when ten Berge served out for the win.
"This was a great win for the team and we are excited to be going to the "Sweet Sixteen" at Stanford," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "The turning point in the match came when we won two tiebreakers in the first sets that ended at virtually the same time. That titled the match in our favor."
The match got off to a hot start as the Rebels opened with an 8-2 win at No. 3 doubles. Ole Miss' Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson, ranked No. 8 in the nation, downed the No. 11 team, Ytai Abougzir and Chris Westerhof, 8-3 at No. 1 to clinch the point and the early 1-0 lead for the Rebels. The Rebels are now 80-4 when winning the doubles point since the 2002 season.
Ole Miss gained four first sets, including the two key tiebreakers on courts three and six. The 2006 ITA Southeast Region Player to Watch, Tveit gave the Rebels a 2-0 lead with his impressive 6-0, 6-1 win over 35th-ranked Abougzir. Tveit won his 20th dual match and finished the weekend by going 3-0 in singles and doubles.
Florida State tied it up with straight set wins on courts five and four. Westerhof handed Robbye Poole a 6-3, 6-1 loss at No. 5 and then Seminole Maciek Sykut completed his 6-1, 6-4 win over senior Juan Pablo Di Cesare at No. 4.
Claesson has won many big matches for the Rebels during his three years and he stepped up once again, fending off a tough Jonathas Sucupira at No. 2 singles. Claesson won the first set easily, 6-2, but after gaining a break in the second set, saw Sucupira break back. With the match tied at 5-5, Claesson broke again for a 6-5 lead. After holding several match points on his serve, Claesson finally converted to give the Rebels a 3-2 lead, setting up ten Berge's match-clinching victory.
"It was a very tough match," Claesson said. "They guy I was playing made some really unbelievable shots and then he would miss some easy shots. So, it was hard to get in a rhythm. I was nervous in the second set. I couldn't hold the break, but then at the end I was able to get it done."
The Rebels improved to 30-14 all-time in NCAA play with their two wins this weekend.
DOUBLES
#1 Tveit/Claesson (OM) def. Abougzir/Westerhof (FSU) 8-3
#2 ten Berge/Di Cesare (OM) vs. Chang/Sucupira (FSU) 7-5
#3 Poole/Klaeson (OM) def. Sykut/Andrew Bailey (FSU) 8-2
SINGLES
#1 Erling Tveit (OM) def. Ytai Abougzir (FSU) 6-0, 6-1
#2 Eric Claesson (OM) def. Jonathas Sucupira (FSU) 6-2, 7-5
#3 Bram ten Berge (OM) def. Sam Chang (FSU) 7-6(3), 6-4
#4 Maciek Sykut (FSU) def. Juan Pablo Di Cesare (OM) 6-1, 6-4
#5 Chris Westerhof (FSU) def. Robbye Poole (OM) 6-3, 6-1
#6 Jakob Klaeson (OM) vs. Chris Cloer (FSU) 7-6(4), 4-4, sus.
MORE QUOTES
Head Coach Billy Chadwick
On Eric getting nervous in the second set Eric puts himself in position to win that match and he is going to get nervous. But, the most important thing was that he was able to work through those nerves and find a way to win. Everybody is going to get nervous. Even your star basketball player is going to miss that free throw when everyone's watching and he never misses. The next shot he follows that with is what really counts. Eric double-faulted on one match point, and then followed it up with a great serve to win the next point. That's what it's all about."
On confidence going to California "We were able to get some good momentum at the SEC Tournament. The guys felt that if Georgia is the best team in the country we can play with any team, because we all almost beat them at the conference tournament. These guys are pretty confident. You saw how hard we had to work to get this win today. It comes down to one or two hits of the ball. This is a great team that we beat, and we are really proud to be in the final 16."
On the depth of college tennis "What are you finding now is that the round of 32 is like what the final 16 was five or six years ago. There is so much depth now, that you have matches like we had today taking place all over the country. There is no such thing as a cakewalk to the final 16. We felt like Florida State was arguably the toughest team to be playing in the round of 32."
On playing at home "We were absolutely elated to be playing at home, and that was the difference in the match. We love to play at home, and we play well at home. We had a fabulous crowd, and they really got into it."
Sophomore Bram ten Berge
On the teams' depth
"If you look at the scores, we win at all different positions. This time it just happened to be one, two and three. Jakob maybe would have clinched it. We are deep, and we fight hard at every position. After a week of exams to pull something off like this, is just unbelievable. I have a lot respect for the team."
Junior Eric Claesson
On gaining that last break "You feel like you are ahead, but the way the second set went, there were a lot of breaks. It wasn't that kind of match where when you get the break you think it's over. I knew I would have to fight until the last point, and that's how it went. I think I had six or seven match points before I got it."
On Sweet Sixteen and team confidence
"We are really pumped to go to California. We will probably have Monday off to rest and then we'll practice here and a couple of times in California before we play. We'll be ready.
On if team is playing as well as they have all season
"We played a little better in the SEC tournament as a team. We've had a long break, so it's to be expected. Hopefully we can get better."
On Florida State
"Florida State is a really good team. They made the Sweet Sixteen last year and beat Illinois. They've been beating really good teams all year."
