Rebels Head To Starkville Seeking Win No. 20

OXFORD, Miss. The No. 7 nationally ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team heads to Starkville Saturday to battle arch-rival Mississippi State in the final regular season match for both teams.  The match will begin at 1 p.m., at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.

With the SEC Western Division title and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SEC Championship already locked up, the Rebels still have plenty to play for.  Besides going for their 19^th win in a row in the series, a victory would give the Rebels 20 wins for the ninth time in the history of the program and the fifth year in a row.  

There are also NCAA tournament seeding and host site considerations on the line.  The Rebels have hosted an NCAA Regional seven of the last eight years and would like to keep that streak alive.

“It’s a big match for us,” head coach Billy Chadwick said.  “Despite their record, they have a solid team. And in this league if you are not at your best, anything can happen.  The guys know that if we want to host a regional, we need to go down there and take care of business.”

Ole Miss clinched its sixth consecutive SEC Western Division Championship last weekend with a thrilling 4-3 win over Tennessee and an LSU loss to Auburn.  They also clinched second in the overall standings, marking the 14th consecutive year, for the Rebels to finish among the top third in the SEC. 

Mississippi State enters Saturday’s match at 6-12 overall and 3-7 in the SEC.  They lost both their matches last weekend, as Georgia downed the Bulldogs 7-0 and Tennessee won 5-2.  The Bulldogs are led by 37th-ranked Ivan Bjelica and 75th-ranked Philippe Frayssinoux at the top two spots.   Bjelica is 10-4 at No. 1 singles, and Frayssinoux is 8-6 at No. 2.

Ole Miss owns a 18-match winning streak against Mississippi State.  The Rebels’ streak almost came to an end in last season’s regular season meeting, when State held a 5-2 lead in the third set of the final match between Pierre Mouillon and Erling Tveit.  Tveit roared back to win the set in a tiebreaker and clinch the match and the SEC West for the Rebels.

Fans can follow the match at www.olemisssports.com.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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