Rebel Tennis Headed To Texas For NCAA 1st Round

OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss men's tennis team will make its second trip to College Station, Texas in as many years, as the Rebels learned Tuesday that they will face TCU in the NCAA first round.

The Rebels, ranked No. 18 in the nation, are the No. 2 seed in the regional and will face the No. 3 seed, TCU, Friday, May 14 at 3 p.m. Texas A&M is the No. 1 seed and faces the No. 4 seed, Prairie View A&M, in the first round. The winners will meet Saturday, May 15 at 3 p.m. for the right to advance to the NCAA Finals in Athens, Ga., May 21-25.

This marks the 17th consecutive NCAA appearance for Ole Miss and the second year in a row for them to travel for the first and second rounds.

"We are headed to Texas A&M, and we look forward to playing them," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "When you look at this team and the adversity we had to overcome, with Devin Britton turning pro, and then our No. 1 player, Kalle Norberg (2009 SEC Tournament MVP) was out with a back injury. We elected to not use him this year and save him for next year. So we knew our backs were against the wall. For this team to go into this time of year as a top 20 team and a No. 2 seed is a great effort."

Junior Tucker Vorster has become the leader of the team since Norberg, a senior, was out.

"We are very excited to be going back to College Station," he said. It came as a bit of a surprise to us (thought we might go to Louisville or Texas Tech), but we're up for the challenge. We love playing down there; we played there last year for NCAAs (finals). If we make it to Athens, then the draw looks pretty good from there. We're ready to go."

The Rebels won their ninth consecutive SEC Western Division Championship and advanced to the SEC Tournament Semifinals for the eighth time in the last nine years. Marcel Thiemann and Tucker Vorster earned All-SEC honors.

Chadwick talked about the strides the team has made with three freshmen and inexperience at the top of the lineup.

"A good example is Marcel Thiemman. He made All-SEC. Last year he played No. 6, this year he played No. 1. He will make the NCAA field in singles. There is improvement up and down the lineup on this team," Chadwick said.

College Station Regional Schedule

Friday, May 14
Match 1: Ole Miss (18-7) vs. TCU (12-12), 3 p.m.
Match 2: No. 10 Texas A&M (23-6) vs. Prairie View A&M (10-15), 6 p.m.

Saturday, May 15
Match 3: Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2 at 3 p.m.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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