The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis Punches Ticket To Sweet Sixteen
5/11/2008 | Men's Tennis
OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss men's tennis team came back from losing the doubles point against Vanderbilt in the second round of the NCAA Tennis Championships to dominate the singles on their way to a 4-1 win, punching a ticket to the Sweet Sixteen here Sunday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. The No. 4 nationally ranked Rebels (23-4) will face North Carolina, a 4-2 winner over Duke, in the round of 16 Friday in Tulsa, Okla., at 9 a.m.
For the second straight year, sophomore Kalle Norberg clinched the Rebels’ ticket to the Final 16. The
“It doesn’t really matter (on clinching again), but it’s always exciting,” he said. It’s always fun when a lot of people are watching.”
While the day ended as everyone had hoped it would, it did not begin as expected. Vanderbilt (14-10) seemed to carried over momentum from their big win (4-3) against
However, their momentum didn’t last long, as the Rebels jumped on the Commodores early in singles, winning all of the first sets. It took Ole Miss only a little more than an hour once singles began, to secure their 14th Sweet Sixteen appearance.
Berg was first off the court for the Rebels, taking out VU’s Bryant Salcedo 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4 to even the match. For the second day in a row, ten Berge looked good in singles, cruising to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Commodore Adam Baker at No. 6 to put the Rebels up 2-1. This weekend was the junior’s first competition since March 21 when he went out with a broken right foot.
Senior Robbye Poole dominated Vanderbilt’s Vijay Paul 6-1, 6-2 on court three to increase the lead to 3-1, setting up Norberg’s clinching match.
“It would have been easy for the guys to get psyched out, because the last time the Final 16 was in Tulsa, we were playing Vandy here and they nipped us to go to (the Final 16),” head coach Billy Chadwick said. “But I reminded the guys that we are a better team than they are. The last time they beat us, they had five of their top six back from the NCAA Final team the year before. The guys felt that if we played well this was a match we could take, but if we weren’t on our game then we could lose. It’s just like any SEC match. The guys really stepped it up in the singles.”
When the match was clinched, Ole Miss led on courts one and two with Tveit and Wellermann.
Ole Miss will meet
NCAA MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS SECOND ROUND SECOND ROUND #4 Ole Miss 4 Vanderbilt 1 DOUBLES 1. Preston/Zotov (VU) def. Berg/Tveit ( 2. Cromydas/Salcedo (VU) def. Wellermann/ten Berge (OM) 9-8(5) 3. Jakob Klaeson/Tucker Vorster ( Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2 SINGLES 1. Erling Tveit (OM) vs. Ryan Preston (VU) 7-6(5), 0-1, sus. 2. Matthias Wellermann (OM) vs. Nik Cromydas (VU) 6-3, 2-4, sus. 3. Robbye Poole ( 4. Jonas Berg ( 5. Kalle Norberg ( 6. Bram ten Berge ( Order of Finish: 4, 6, 3, 5 MORE QUOTES Head Coach Billy Chadwick On if he’s ever seen anyone steamroll a team in singles like that “Not against a quality team. Sometimes if you are playing a team that you are supposed to win, you’re going to win every one of them. But playing a team that is coming off winning the doubles point, it really turned the momentum for us. Erling put the icing on the cake, taking that tiebreaker. The heart and soul of their team is (Ryan) On playing “We played On the crowd “The thing that really made a difference is we had a great crowd. The crowd could get the feeling with the different matches, what really counted. It’s a big-time home court advantage. The fans are one of the main reasons we are in the Final 16 again. Junior Jonas Berg “We were very disappointed in losing the doubles point. We came out in singles with a little revenge (on our minds), winning the first set on every court. I served very well and played well. It felt good out there. On steamrolling a team like Vanderbilt in singles “We have the potential to do it if everybody is playing at the top of their game, but to actually do it is satisfying. On the wind playing a factor in the match “We’ve been playing in a lot of wind this year. At the SEC Championships in On what the team did after doubles to change the momentum “We just talked about how we have the potential to win every match and to stay focused and try to do it.” Senior Robbye Poole “I played really well today. I think I am starting to play like I did in the middle of the season. Coach and I talked about me stepping up and getting back to being one of the best No.3 players in the country.” On what’s different with his game “I am a hard worker. I usually like to play a lot. The last month I wasn’t in to it as much, but now I am getting my second wind.” On team’s mood after doubles “We were shaky, because anybody can get lucky and get three points. We knew we could win all six singles.” On if he’s ever seen anyone steamroll a team in singles “I’ve never seen it like that before. Jonas won the first set 6-0, I won six straight games and then I looked up on the scoreboard, and Kalle and Bram were smoking (their opponents). On confidence heading to “It’s great, because today I played a better opponent. It was a close match earlier in the spring. If I can beat a guy like that pretty handedly now, I’ve got a lot of confidence.” On what they draw from last year’s Sweet Sixteen experience “We want to go and advance. It was a bad feeling last year not being able to advance. Erling and I stuck around (for individuals), and it was hard watching all of the other teams still playing, because we knew we should have been one of them. That was a terrible feeling, and I don’t want that to happen again, especially my last year.” Sophomore Kalle Norberg On the team’s chances of advancing “We feel really confident this year, especially from the SEC (Tournament Championship) win. It’s a different feeling this year.” On if he was surprised that the team steamrolled in singles “We almost won every doubles point this year, but we showed today that it doesn’t matter if we don’t. We can win every singles, and that’s what we would have done today, if we had finished all the matches.
