Rebel Netters Clinch No. 2 Seed In Upcoming SEC Championship

OXFORD, Miss. The No. 7 nationally ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SEC Championship here Saturday on Senior Day, with a 4-3 win over arch-rival Mississippi State in front of a packed house at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.

The Rebels finished the regular season with an 18-4 overall record, 9-2 in the SEC, while Mississippi State ended at 8-11 and 2-9 in league play.

With the Rebels up 3-0 and the remaining matches tight, sophomore Kalle Norberg closed out the Bulldogs with a second-set comeback at No. 4 singles.  After winning the first set against State’s Christopher Doerr 6-1, Norberg got down 0-5 in the second set and faced a third set.  The All-SEC performer decided he would rather end it in two and promptly won six straight games to go up 6-5.  State then held serve to force a tiebreaker, but Norberg won it 7-5 to clinch Ole Miss’ 21^st consecutive win in the overall series.

“This was a good win,” head coach Billy Chadwick said. “Anything can happen in this league.  South Carolina almost beat Florida, and Tennessee took the doubles point from Georgia.  If you are not ready to play, you can get beat on any given day.  We did a good job of taking the doubles point.  Jakob and Jonas played great to put us up 3-0 and then Kalle came through again.  We want to thank all the fans who showed up on a busy day of events.  It was a fantastic crowd.”

Ole Miss honored its seniors prior to the start of the match and then swept the doubles for the early 1-0 lead. 

For the second straight week a Rebel was battling the stomach virus.  This time it was senior Matthias Wellermann. After clinching the doubles point with fellow senior Robbye Poole, the coaches opted to sit Wellermann out in singles, meaning everybody moved up a spot.

Junior Jonas Berg took care of business quickly, downing State’s Ryan Farlow, 6-4, 6-0 at No. 3 to make it 2-0.  A little while later, a loud roar came from the top courts as senior Jakob Klaeson finished off MSU’s Artem Kuznetsov, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5 to put the Rebels up 3-0, setting up Norberg’s clincher.

Once the match was decided, State earned victories on courts six, two and one, all in three sets.

The Rebels, who finished in the top third of the SEC for the 15^th year in a row, earned a bye in the first round of the SEC Championship and will not play until Friday.   The SEC bracket will be announced Sunday.

#7 Ole Miss  4

#55 Mississippi State  3

 

DOUBLES

1. Tveit/Berg (OM) def. Bjelica/Frayssinoux (MSU) 8-6

2. Poole/Wellermann (OM) def. Farlow/Necajevs

3. Tucker Vorster/Klaeson (OM) def. Doerr/Stump (MSU) 8-2

Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1

SINGLES

1. Ivan Bjelica (MSU) def. Erling Tveit (OM) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0(3)

2. Philippe Frayssinoux (MSU) def. Robbye Poole (OM) 6-1, 3-6, 7-5

3. Jonas Berg (OM) def. Ryan Farlow (MSU) 6-4, 6-0

4. Kalle Norberg (OM) def. Christopher Doerr (MSU) 6-1, 7-6(5)

5. Jakob Klaeson (OM) def. Artem Kuznetsov (MSU) 6-2, 6-4

6. Antonio Lastre (MSU) def. Tucker Vorster (OM) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

Order of Finish: 3, 5, 4, 6, 2, 1

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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