The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
NCAA Individuals
Marcel Thiemann Ends NCAA Run In Quarterfinals
5/28/2011 | Men's Tennis
May 28, 2011
STANFORD, Calif. - Ole Miss men's tennis player Marcel Thiemann ended his NCAA run in the quarterfinals here Saturday at Taube Tennis Center with a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Tennessee's Tennys Sandgren. With the loss, Thiemann concludes the year at 17-13, while Sandgren advances to the semifinals to face his teammate, Rhyne Williams.
Thiemann had several break points in the first game of the first set, but Sandgren held and then broke to go up 2-0. Thiemann broke back but at 4-3, Sandgren was able to break again and hold serve for the first set.
In the second set, the two traded breaks to start and were all even at 3-3. Sandgren broke again at 4-3 and held for 5-3. Thiemann held for 4-5 and had triple break point as Sandgren served for the match. Sandgren answered every one of them and gained the advantage followed by an ace on match point.
"Marcel didn't serve as well as the previous matches," Chadwick said. "We knew there wouldn't be any margin for error playing as good a player as Tennys. Still, it was a great run, and we are proud of him. It puts it in perspective how tough a team Tennessee was this year. We are already looking forward to next year with Marcel leading the way."
This marked Thiemann's second straight year to be in the quarterfinals in his second NCAA Singles appearance. In the first round, he beat a familiar opponent in UC Irvine's Chris Kearny in straight sets. In the second round, Thiemann faced four match points against another very familiar opponent in sixth-ranked Eric Quigley of Kentucky, before winning in a third-set tiebreaker to earn All-America honors again. In the third round, Thiemann defeated Southern Cal freshman Ray Sarmiento in straight sets.
NCAA SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
Quarterfinals - Tennys Sandgren (UT) def. Marcel Thiemann (OM) 6-3, 6-4
