The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis Begins Three-Match Homestand With South Carolina
3/24/2011 | Men's Tennis
March 24, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team looks to maintain the momentum from last weekend's big win at Florida as they begin a three-match homestand Saturday against South Carolina. The match will begin at 1 p.m. at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center, and admission is free.
The Rebels won their fifth in the last six meetings against Florida, by taking a 4-3 victory in Gainesville last Saturday. It also marked their second straight win in Gainesville.
"We were lucky to get the doubles point, and then in singles, I think we were the better team," said senior Kalle Norberg. "We have had some tough losses in the SEC, so to get that win was big for the rest of the season."
Head coach Billy Chadwick said the team learned a lot from the loss to LSU, prior to spring break, and is ready for the stretch run in the SEC.
"The team has been improving with every match. We felt like with LSU, we wanted that one back. Kalle didn't get to play and that was the difference in the match. LSU was a turning point," Chadwick said. "We played a good match against Arkansas, and even though they are not the strongest team in the conference, it's tough to play on the road. We were able to take a couple days off and get Kalle back in a position where he was able to play against Florida. We did a tremendous job from top to bottom at Florida. Every match went three sets."
This is perhaps the biggest homestand for the Rebels in two years, as they will welcome No. 11 Georgia and No. 2 Tennessee next weekend to close out the 2011 home schedule.
"The guys know that if we can come up with a couple more big wins we can move up in the national rankings and have a chance to host (NCAA Regional)," Chadwick said. "Then of course you have the SEC West Championship still out there on the line. It's not out of the question for the overall SEC Championship, but basically for us to have a shot at it, we're going to have to take down South Carolina and Georgia and Tennessee next weekend. It's a tall order, but the guys we'll be ready."
The Rebels are led by junior Marcel Thiemann, the reigning SEC Player of the Week. Thiemann upset the nation's No. 6 ranked player last week in the win over Florida.
South Carolina (6-11, 1-4 SEC) is coming off a 5-2 loss to arch-rival Clemson on Wednesday. The Gamecocks are led by junior Ivan Machado.
For those that can't make it to Saturday's match you can follow along with live stats and a live blog.
