Ole Miss Falls To Alabama 4-3 On The Road

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. The No. 8 nationally ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team lost the doubles point against No. 28 ranked Alabama and that proved to be the difference as the Crimson Tide went on to win 4-3 Friday at the UA Varsity Courts, giving the Rebels their first SEC loss of the season.

With the score knotted at 3-3, the match came down to No. 3 singles with Ole Miss’ Matthias Wellermann battling Alabama’s Billy Mertz.  Mertz won the first set 6-4 and then the two battled to a second set tiebreaker.   In the breaker, Wellermann got the first point on his serve.  Mertz then won three straight to take a 3-1 lead.  Wellermann tallied two straight to make it 3-3 but Mertz was too strong at the end, scoring four of the last five points for the 7-6(4) victory to clinch the match.   Mertz improved his record to 10-1.

“This was a very disappointing loss,” head coach Billy Chadwick said. “We didn’t play well and they did. Leading up to the match, we had a great week of practice, but it just didn’t go our way today.  They played great in doubles and then at Nos. 2 and 4 singles.  We played very well at five and six.  We have to regroup and get ready to face a good Auburn team on Sunday.”

For just the third time all season, the Rebels dropped the doubles point, as Alabama won 8-6 at Nos. 3 and 1.  Alabama has now won 11 doubles points in a row.  Since 2002, the Rebels are 91-4 when winning the doubles point, but just 24-23 when losing the point.

Ole Miss (12-2, 2-1) tied the match when Jonas Berg downed Dan Buikema 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.

Alabama (9-2, 2-1) regained the lead as Matthieu Thibaudeau handed this week’s SEC Player of the Week, Robbye Poole, a 6-3, 6-4 loss on court four.   Rebel freshman Kalle Norberg dominated the Crimson Tide’s Houssam Yassine, 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot to even the match.

The Crimson Tide then went ahead 3-2 when Sammy Struyf defeated Rebel senior Eric Claesson 6-0, 6-4 on court two.  Not long after that, Erling Tveit squared the match, finishing off Joseph Jung 6-3, 7-5 at the top spot.

The Rebels will head to Auburn to face the Tigers Sunday at 1 p.m.

 

DOUBLES

#1 Buikema/Thibaudeau (UA) def. Tveit/Claesson (OM) 8-6

#2 Jung/Saketh Myneni (UA) def. Jakob Klaeson/Wellermann (OM) 7-6 (8-6)

#3 Javier Bes/Mertz (UA) def. Chris Rea/Berg (OM) 8-6

SINGLES

#1 Erling Tveit (OM) def. Joseph Jung (UA) 6-3, 7-5

#2 Sammy Struyf (UA) def. Eric Claesson (OM) 6-0, 6-4

#3 Billy Mertz (UA) def. Matthais Wellermann (OM) 6-4, 7-6(4)

#4 Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) def. Robbye Poole (OM) 6-3, 6-4

#5 Jonas Berg (OM) def. Dan Buikema (UA) 6-4, 6-2

#6 Kalle Norberg (OM) def. Houssam Yassine (UA) 6-1, 6-2

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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