Ole Miss Men's Tennis Tops Northwestern 5-2

EVANSTON, Ill. The No. 4 nationally ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team arrived here early Wednesday morning after weather cancelled their original flight on Tuesday, but the delay didn’t prevent the Rebels from winning their seventh in a row, as they topped 38^th-ranked Northwestern 5-2 at the Combe Tennis Center.

In addition to the delay, the Rebels (7-0) played without senior All-American Eric Claesson, this week’s SEC Player of the Week. 

For the first time all season, the Rebels found themselves down 1-0 to start the match after dropping a close doubles point.   Ole Miss won the No. 3 match 8-4, as Kalle Norberg and Jonas Berg remained undefeated in doubles together.  With Claesson sitting out, the Rebels paired Erling Tveit with Chris Rea, at No. 1, but they lost 8-5.   All eyes then turned to court two with Robbye Poole and Jakob Klaeson battling Northwestern’s Marc Dwyer and Alex Sanborn. They would go to a tiebreaker, with the Wildcat duo winning it (7-5) to clinch the point.

Ole Miss quickly gained a 3-1 lead with straight sets wins at Nos. 6, 3 and 1 in that order.  Chris Rea lost only two games to Wildcat Alex Sanborn at No. 6 singles to improve to 4-0 there. 

Freshman Kalle Norberg dominated Matt Christian 6-1, 6-1 in his first match at No. 3 singles, to make it 2-1 Rebels. He remains undefeated in singles and doubles this season.

Junior All-American Erling Tveit put Ole Miss within one point of clinching by defeating Willy Lock 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1 singles.  He is now 6-0 in dual matches, 5-0 at No. 1 singles.

Jakob Klaeson cruised to 6-1 in his first set against Marc Dwyer at No. 4 singles and then won a second set tiebreaker, 9-7 to seal the victory for the Rebels.

Ole Miss picked up a three-set win on courts five and lost in three sets at No. 2 singles for the final 5-2 score.

The Rebels will now head down to Chicago for the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor, Feb. 16-19. They will face Boise State in the first round Friday at 9 a.m.

#4 OLE MISS 5

# 38 Northwestern 2

DOUBLES

#1 Lock/Christian (NW) def. Tveit/Rea (OM) 8-5

#2 Dwyer/Sanborn (NW) def. Poole/Klaeson (OM) 9-8 (5)

#3 Norberg/Berg (OM) def. Gomez/Tempke (NW) 8-4

SINGLES

#1 Erling Tveit (OM) def. Willy Lock (NW) 6-3, 6-3

#2 Christian Tempke (NW) def. Robbye Poole (OM) 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3)

#3 Kalle Norberg (OM) def. Matt Christian (NW) 6-1, 6-1

#4 Jakob Klaeson (OM) def. Marc Dwyer (NW) 6-1, 7-6(7)

#5 Jonas Berg (OM) def. Juan Gomez (NW) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3

#6 Chris Rea (OM) def. Alex Sanborn (NW) 6-0, 6-2

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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