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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Netters Kick Off SEC Play At Home Against Auburn
2/29/2012 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 29, 2012
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team kicks off Southeastern Conference play Friday with a big match against No. 12 Auburn followed by Alabama on Sunday. Both matches will be played at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center/Galtney Courts.
The first 200 fans coming to Friday's match will receive a collector's poster of senior Marcel Thiemann.
The Auburn match will be a big one for the Rebels, who are looking to move up after falling out of the Top 25 in the latest ITA National Rankings to No. 44. This is the point in the season, when the rankings switch to the computer. A win over Auburn would not only start conference play off on the right foot, but give the Rebels their first big win of the season.
"Auburn is a very strong team top to bottom. They beat us last year over at their place. We'll have to be at our best to win," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "We need a big crowd to come out and support us. The fans really make a huge difference in a close match, and we need that home court advantage."
The Rebels are coming off a big 4-3 win against No. 32 Memphis on Tuesday. After dropping the doubles point, the team rallied to win four singles matches at one, two, three and the clincher at six by sophomore Johan Backstrom.
"We have two good teams coming in this weekend, especially Auburn," Backstrom said. "It's a great opportunity for us to prove ourselves and show that we are a good team and that we belong up there. We're really excited to play them here and looking forward to a great match."
Auburn comes into the match at 10-2. The Tigers went 3-0 at the Blue/Gray Championships last weekend. Their two losses are to then No. 2 Virginia and No. 14 Texas at the ITA National Team Indoor. Junior Andreas Mies leads the Tigers with an 18-4 overall record, 6-1 at No. 1. He is ranked No. 20 in the nation. The Tigers also boast the No. 16 ranked doubles team in the nation in Mies and Alexander Stamchev.
On Sunday, the Rebels will host Alabama at 1 p.m. The Crimson Tide enters the weekend with a 5-4 record. They also participated in the Blue/Gray Championships last weekend going 2-1.
The Rebels own a 45-8 home record since 2001. "Our results show that we've been pretty successful at home in the SEC. It's tough to win on the road in this league, therefore we need to take care of business at home if we want to contend for a championship," Chadwick added.
Admission to all home matches is free. There will also be a live blog as well as live scoring at www.OleMissSports.com.
Follow the Rebels on twitter at @OleMissMTennis and on facebook at www.facebook.com/OleMissMTennis.
