The University of Mississippi Athletics
Both Rebel Doubles Teams Advance To NCAA Final Four
5/24/2008 | Men's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. -- The Ole Miss men’s tennis team’s chance for an NCAA title will continue, as both doubles teams advanced to the NCAA Final Four Saturday with come-from-behind wins at the
“We knew from the start we could play really good doubles,” junior Bram ten Berge said. “Jonas (Berg) and Erling (Tveit) have proven themselves the entire year, and they are ranked No. 5 in the nation.
“We (him and partner Matthias Wellermann) have been playing well the entire year. We had a little bit of a pause, when I broke my foot in the middle of the season, but getting through that first match was very important. We started to get going and got our confidence back.”
In the first match of the day, fourth-seeded Erling Tveit and Jonas Berg came back to defeat the North Carolina team of Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney (5-8) in three sets. Following their match, Tveit and Berg watched as their teammates Wellermann and ten Berge did the same, fighting off match points against the
Tveit and Berg lost the first set 6-3, but rallied to win the second and third sets 7-5, 6-3, respectively, for their third win of the year against Fogleman and
“We had a long match yesterday to advance to the quarterfinals,” Tveit said. “We came out a little slow in the first set. We both hit the ball pretty well, but ended up giving away an easy break. We weren’t able to break back and dropped the first set. We started playing a little better in the second, served for the set at 5-3 and didn’t get it. We were fortunate to break one more time and serve out for 7-5. The third set, we both raised our level of play. We broke to go up 5-3 and served it out in a tough, tough game. It was a good match.”
The fifth-ranked Rebel duo, who notched their 30th win of the year, will face Austin Krajicek and Conor Pollack of Texas A&M in the semifinals Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
Wellermann and ten Berge were in the same predicament, having to fight their way back after dropping the first set against Forman and Parr, 6-3. In the second set, Wellermann and ten Berge gained a break in the fourth game and never relinquished it, winning 6-4 to level the match. ten Berge served to keep the Rebels alive at 5-6 in the third and quickly got down 15-40, before he and Wellermann came back to even it up at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker. The breaker was all Rebels, as they led 6-1, before
“It was tight,” ten Berge said. “We had a tie break in the third. Four players were playing really well and especially serving well. Towards the end, we were down two match points and then to get those and start off so well in the tie-breaker really gave us momentum. It was really close because all four guys played well. It was a quality match.”
Wellermann and ten Berge will go for their third victory against a seeded team Sunday, when they face
Live video and scoring of both semifinal matches can be seen by going to www.OleMissSports.com and clicking on the link in the upcoming events box.
NCAA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Doubles
Quarterfinals -- Erling Tveit/Jonas Berg (OM) def. Taylor Fogleman/Chris Kearney (UNC) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3; Matthias Wellermann/Bram ten Berge (OM) def. Steven Forman/Cory Parr (WF) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).
