Rebel Netters Head To USTA/ITA Southern Regional

Oct. 19, 2011

OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team has had plenty of success in recent years at the USTA/ITA Southern Regional, and they head to Auburn, Ala., this weekend looking for more, as the five-day event gets underway Thursday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

The Southern Region includes schools from the states of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. The winners of the singles and doubles will earn a spot in the ITA National Indoor in November.

The Rebels will have five players competing this weekend led by 72nd-ranked Jonas Lutjen, who reached the semifinals of this tournament last year.

Also competing this weekend is junior Adrian Forberg Skogeng, sophomore Johan Backstrom and redshirt freshman Alex Durham. Backstrom went 4-1 at the All-American earlier this month.

"The guys have been working hard since the All-American, and we're looking forward to this weekend, head coach Billy Chadwick said. The Southern Regional is a very competitive one with SEC schools Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State among the teams we will be competing against."

Play begins Thursday with the first round of singles and doubles. There is one draw of singles and doubles.

Ole Miss dominated the Southern Regional last year, with former two-time All-SEC honoree Tucker Vorster capturing the singles title and twins Marcel Thiemann and Chris Thiemann winning the doubles crown.

Follow the Rebels on twitter at @OleMissMTennis and on facebook at www.facebook.com/OleMissMTennis.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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