The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Netters California Dreamin'
5/11/2011 | Men's Tennis
May 11, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team boarded a plane Wednesday for Los Angeles, Calif., site of their NCAA first and second round matches. The Rebels hope to extend their stay in California and head up north to Palo Alto, where the Final 16 is being played May 19-24.
The Rebels face a tough UC Irvine team in the first round Friday at 12 p.m. CT. The winner of that match will meet the UCLA/Binghamton winner Saturday at 5 p.m. CT. The 16 winners of each regional will move on to the Sweet Sixteen at Stanford.
"We know that we're going to have to be at our best against Cal-Irvine. I put them on par with a good SEC team," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "It's especially difficult playing any school from California in California. With that being said, if we can play well and work our way through that first match, then it puts us in position to play our best tennis against UCLA."
In their last action, the Rebels (12-9) went 1-1 at the SEC Tournament, shutting out Vanderbilt 4-0 before losing a close match to No. 4 Tennessee (4-1) in the quarterfinals.
"If you look at the SEC Tournament, the Irvine match is going to be very similar to the Vanderbilt match," Chadwick said. "We played a good match against Vanderbilt. It really prepared us for Tennessee. Even though we didn't beat Tennessee, it was perhaps our best match of the year. We feel like if we can get through the first match and play as well as we did against Tennessee versus UCLA, we have a shot to advance."
The Rebels have been led all year by senior Tucker Vorster and junior Marcel Thiemann, both of whom earned All-SEC honors for the second year in a row.
Cal-Irvine (19-7) won the Big West Tournament to earn their second straight NCAA trip. They are led by the Big West Player of the Year, Chris Kearney, an Irvine native who is ranked No. 42 in the nation in singles.
Ole Miss is used to winning SEC Championships and hosting NCAA Regionals, but the team has dealt with injuries this year, most notably to senior Kalle Norberg (2009 SEC Tournament MVP).
"When you have a player as good as Kalle who can't play, you're dropping about 15 spots nationally," Chadwick said. "That's the difference in being No. 10 in the nation and No. 25. It's a huge difference. It puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the guys."
Still, the Rebels were able to earn their 18th consecutive and 20th overall NCAA appearance.
"When you've been as good as we have for so long, just making the NCAAs, is not our measuring stick. We want to win a championship. We want to win a national championship. With this particular team, and fighting the injuries that we've had, you have to sit back and realistically say, 'did we accomplish what we could.' I feel that we did. The guys feel like we can beat UC Irvine and UCLA and make it to the Final 16. They know that this particular season can be defined by the NCAA Tournament."
Follow all the action from the first and second rounds by going to www.OleMissSports.com and clicking on the live scoring link in the calendar.
