The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Head To Starkville For SEC Championship
4/17/2012 | Men's Tennis
April 17, 2012
OXFORD, Miss. - The No.14 nationally ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team heads to Starkville, Miss., for the 2012 SEC Championship looking to make some noise and improve their standing for a possible host bid for the NCAA Championships.
Seeded No. 5 in the tournament, the Rebels will face No. 12 seeded Arkansas in the first round Thursday at 5 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. The winner of that match faces the No. 4 seed, Florida in the quarterfinals.
The Rebels (11-7, 7-4) enter the SEC Championship looking to snap a two-match losing streak after a tough 4-3 loss at home to arch-rival and No. 9 Mississippi State last Saturday.
Senior Marcel Thiemann leads the Rebels heading into the postseason. He posted a 10-1 SEC record at No. 2 singles. Freshman Nik Scholtz finished 7-4 at No. 1 singles and junior Jonas Lutjen also went 7-4 at No. 3 singles. Scholtz and Lutjen also teamed up for a 9-2 doubles record in the SEC.
Arkansas finished the regular season at 13-12 overall and 1-10 in the SEC. In the earlier meeting, the Rebels downed the Razorbacks 6-1 for their 24th in a row in the series.
In their SEC Tournament history, the Rebels own three SEC Tournament titles (1997, 2008, 2009), and have reached at least the semifinals 14 times.
Fans can follow all the action with live scoring by going to www.olemisssports.com and clicking on the link in the calendar. You can also follow the tournament on twitter at @SECtennis or @SEC_Tammy. The hashtag for the tournament is #SECMT12.
