Rebel Tennis Nets Four All-Americans

OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss men's tennis players Erling Tveit, Jonas Berg, Bram ten Berge and Matthias Wellermann earned All-America honors for the 2008 season. Ole Miss tied with Ohio State for the most All-Americans. The Rebels won their seventh consecutive SEC West title and captured the SEC Tournament Championship.

The Rebels won their seventh consecutive SEC West title, captured the SEC Tournament Championship, hosted an NCAA Regional for the eighth year in a row, advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight and earned a final national ranking of No. 6. It marked the 13th time in the last 15 years for the Rebels end the year in the top 10.

"It's a great accomplishment to have four All-Americans," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "They were all very instrumental in our success this year. We are extremely proud of the seniors, Matthias and Erling, closing out their careers with this honor, and we are excited to have two All-Americans (Jonas and Bram) returning next year."

Tveit, a native of Oslo, Norway, earned the honor for the third year in a row in both singles and doubles. He is the third three-time All-American in the history of the program and last year became the first to earn All-America honors multiple times in both singles and doubles. The four-time All-SEC honoree finished ranked No. 20 in the nation in singles and No. 3 in doubles. He teamed with Berg to reach the NCAA Doubles Final, losing a hard-fought match to Southern California's Kaes Van't Hof and Robert Farah. Tveit ended an outstanding career with 107 singles and 89 doubles victories.

Berg, Wellermann and ten Berge all earned the honor for the first time, increasing the Rebels' total to 23 All-Americans in the history of the program.

Wellermann concluded his career ranked No. 35 in singles and No. 18 in doubles. He participated in the NCAA Singles Championship and teamed with ten Berge to reach the NCAA semifinals in doubles, coming within points of making it an all Ole Miss final.

ten Berge ended the year ranked No. 98 in singles along with the No. 18 doubles ranking. He missed nine matches during the season with a broken foot, and returned just in time for the NCAA Championships. He and Wellermann finished with a 26-9 record in doubles.

Berg paired up with Tveit for the first time in the fall, and the two quickly became a team to be reckoned with, finishing runner-up at the ITA All-American Championships. They were the top doubles team in the nation's best conference (SEC), maintaining a top-five ranking all spring. Berg was also outstanding in singles, posting 12-1 record at the No. 4 position.

Players earn ITA All-America honors in singles and/or doubles based on their final National Ranking, advancement at the NCAA Championships and/or seeding at the NCAA Championships. The ITA All-America Team for men dates back to 1957.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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