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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Auburn
Men's Tennis Takes Out No. 12 Auburn 5-2
3/2/2012 | Men's Tennis
March 2, 2012
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team got great doubles play, two wins at the top of the lineup and another match-clinching victory by sophomore Johan Backstrom to take out No. 12 Auburn 5-2 here Friday at the Gillom Sports Center in their Southeastern Conference opener.
The Rebels will host Alabama Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center/Galtney Courts.
Friday's match was moved indoors due to high winds and expected inclement weather. A crowd of 356 cheered loudly as the Rebels swept the doubles to gain the early 1-0 lead. The twins, Marcel Thiemann and Chris Thiemann, dominated Alex Stamchev and Dan Cochrane 8-2 at No. 1. Johan Backstrom and William Kallberg secured the point with a huge 9-8(5) win at No. 3 doubles against Auburn's Rafael Rondino and Lucas Lopasso.
Freshman Nik Scholtz and junior Jonas Lutjen won their doubles match 8-5 and carried the momentum over to singles, where both captured straight set wins to give the Rebels a 3-0 lead.
Lutjen continued his stellar play as of late, downing Auburn's Dan Cochrane 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. Scholtz took out the nation's 20th-ranked player, Andy Mies, 6-2, 6-4 at the top spot.
Auburn got on the board when Alex Stamchev defeated Marcel Thiemann 7-6(4), 6-4 at No. 2 singles.
With three matches remaining, the Rebels only needed one to secure the win, and Backstrom was up for the challenge. He finished off Rafael Rondino 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6 singles to clinch the victory for the second straight match. Even more exciting for Backstrom, was clinching in front of his family, who made the trek all the way from Uppsala, Sweden.
Auburn added a win at No. 4 singles and then Chris Thiemann won a supertiebreaker in the third set at No. 5 for the final 5-2 score.
Sunday's match will feature live scoring as well as a live blog at www.OleMissSports.com.
Follow the Rebels on twitter at @OleMissMTennis and on facebook at www.facebook.com/OleMissMTennis.
