Rebel Tennis Team Loses Heartbreaker To Illinois In Sweet Sixteen

ATHENS, Ga. -- In a battle between two heavyweights in college tennis, seventh-seeded Ole Miss lost a nail-biter (4-3) to 10th-seeded Illinois Thursday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.  Illinois (21-8) advances to the quarterfinal round to face Ohio State, while Ole Miss ends its season at 24-5.

With the match all square it came down to a battle between two of the top players in the nation.  On court one, Illinois’ Kevin Anderson, ranked No. 5 and Ole Miss’ Erling Tveit, ranked No. 13 went three sets to decide the winner.   Tveit won a first set tiebreaker, 7-6(5) on an ace.  

Anderson answered in the second set, winning the tiebreaker, 7-2 to pull even.  In the deciding frame, Tveit was down 15-40 in the fifth game and came back to hold serve.  At 3-3, he got down again, this time 0-40.  He won three straight points to even it back up before Anderson won the next two points for a 4-3 lead.  That was all the 6-7 junior needed to go on and win 6-3 and clinch his team’s victory.

“That was a great college match,” head coach Billy Chadwick said.  “It went down to the very last match and the very last set between two of the best players in college tennis.  We started the match off great taking the doubles point.  We were looking at being able to take these guys at four, five and six.  We got them at four, we got them at six and five was close.  The difference in the last match was that Kevin served better than Erling in the last set.”

This marked the third meeting between the two schools in NCAA competition, with Illinois winning the last two. It was also the second time the two have played to 4-3 with Ole Miss taking a 4-3 win in 1999 on their way to the Final Four.   The Rebels have now lost three 4-3 matches this season, all to teams in the NCAA Championships.

Ole Miss got on the board first by winning the doubles point.  At No. 1, Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson, ranked No. 24 in the nation, defeated the defending NCAA Champions Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe, ranked No. 8, 8-5.  Both courts two and three gained early breaks, before seeing Illinois even them back up.   On court three, Robbye Poole and Jakob Klaeson were all tied at 5 with Illinois’ GD Jones and Marc Spicijaric, before winning three straight games to clinch the point. 

Things appeared to be in the Rebels’ favor as they came into the match 20-0 this season when winning the doubles point and 100-4 since 2002. 

Poole increased the Ole Miss lead to 2-0 with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Ruben Gonzales at No. 4 singles.  He finished the year at 19-5 in dual matches.

Illinois got on the board when Spicijaric defeated Matthias Wellermann 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.  That marked Wellermann’s first singles match since April 22, and just his 14th overall, as he has battled a back injury all season.

Kalle Norberg gave the Rebels a 3-1 lead with his command performance against Brandon Davis at No. 6 singles.  Norberg won 6-2, 6-1 to finish the year at 22-2 in dual matches. 

At this point, Illinois started their comeback, already leading in two of the three remaining matches.  At No. 2 singles, Claesson fell in his final dual match to Rowe, ranked No. 22, 6-4, 6-4, cutting the lead to 3-2.

On court five, Jonas Berg lost the first set to GD Jones, who in 2005 played No. 1 for the Illini.  Berg battled back to gain a 4-1 lead in the second set.  After Jones tied it up, the two went to a tiebreaker.  Berg was down 6-7 in the tiebreaker, and won two straight points to take an 8-7 lead.  Jones won the next three to even the overall score and hand Berg his first dual match loss of the season.  Berg came into the match at 20-0.

“I knew if we got the second set up top at five, we would be in great shape,” Chadwick said.  “Jonas is very strong as far as stamina goes. It’s hard to outlast him in a third set.  If he could have got that set, he wins the match.”

The season is not quite over for three Rebels, as Tveit and Poole will be in the NCAA Singles Championships, and Tveit and Claesson in the doubles.  That begins May 23.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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