Rebel Tennis To Host Mississippi State Saturday

OXFORD, Miss. The No. 7 nationally ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team can clinch the No. 2 seed in the SEC Championship with a win over arch-rival Mississippi State on Senior Day Saturday. The Rebels will kick off Red/Blue festivities at 11 a.m., at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.

Admission is free, and fans coming to the match will enjoy hot dogs compliments of Kroger.

The Rebels enter the final regular season match at 17-4 overall and 8-2 in the SEC. They are tied with Tennessee for second, but own the tiebreaker as a result of their 4-3 win over the Vols.  Tennessee hosts No. 3 Georgia.

“We are excited about kicking off Red/Blue activities,” head coach Billy Chadwick said.  “This is an important match for us to clinch the No. 2 seed in next week’s SEC Championship.  Despite their record, State has a solid team. And in this league if you don’t come to play, anything can happen.  We want to encourage everyone to come out and help us beat the Bulldogs before going to the Grove Bowl and baseball.”

Saturday marks the final regular season home match for Rebel seniors Erling Tveit, Matthias Wellermann, Robbye Poole and Jakob Klaeson.  They have been a part of an SEC Championship, four Western Division titles and an NCAA Final Four. 

Poole was named the SEC Player of the Week after going 4-0 last weekend to help the Rebels clinch their seventh consecutive SEC West title with wins over Arkansas and LSU.

Mississippi State comes into the match having lost three 4-3 matches in its last four.  After falling to LSU 5-2 on Saturday, the Bulldogs dropped a tight 4-3 match to visiting Arkansas.  The Bulldogs have lost five in a row since a 4-2 win over South Carolina on March 21.  MSU is led by senior Ivan Bjelica, who is ranked No. 26 in the nation with an 11-5 record at No. 1 singles.

Ole Miss has won 20 in a row against Mississippi State, including nine straight Mississippi Cups.  The Rebels downed the Bulldogs 4-0 earlier this year in the annual Mississippi Cup, and won last year’s regular season meeting 6-1 in Starkville.  The last time the two teams met in Oxford (2006), Ole Miss won a close match, 4-3.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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