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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
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Mississippi State
No. 13 Rebels Fall to State 4-1
3/25/2015 | Men's Tennis
OXFORD, Miss. -- The No. 13 Ole Miss men's tennis team dropped the doubles point and could not overcome No. 34 Mississippi State, falling 4-1 here Wednesday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
The Rebels fall to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in the SEC as they continue on the road with a 5 p.m. match at LSU Friday. MSU improved to 13-5 overall and 4-2 in league play.
The match was much closer than the final score. Senior William Kallberg served for his match at No. 4 singles and had three match points, but State's Tassilo Schmid rallied to win four straight games and take the match 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 to clinch the victory.
When play was stopped, State's Juan Cruz was also serving for the match at No. 2 singles against junior Stefan Lindmark, but on the deciding point, Cruz got overruled for 5-5.
The reigning SEC player of the week, Nik Scholtz, and MSU's Florian Lakat were just beginning the third set at No. 1 singles. The two battled to tiebreakers in the first two sets. Scholtz led the first tiebreaker 5-3 and was serving, before Lakat rallied to win it 9-7. Lakat gained an early break in the second set and led 3-0, but Scholtz showed why is the reigning SEC Player of the Year and a three-time All-American, rallying to get back on serve. Twice he served from behind to get to the tiebreaker, which he won 7-6(3) to force a winner take all set. It marked the second time for the two to go three sets and not finish.
"It was a close match that came down to a few points here and there," head coach Toby Hansson said. "Doubles was close and just a few points decided it. Going into singles, we got off to a tough start, but we hung around and kept fighting. I have to give credit to Mississippi State; they executed well at the end, hung in there and gave themselves a chance to win that last match. It was a good battle, and I am looking forward to more of these matches in the future."
State took the early momentum by winning a close doubles point. The Bulldogs won 6-4 at No. 1 doubles, but courts two and three would head to tiebreakers to decide the point, and State won the No. 3 match 7-6(2) to clinch the point.
Things did not go much better for the Rebels in singles as they fell behind 3-0 when State picked up straight set wins on courts five and three. Ricardo Jorge lost to Rishab Agarwal 6-3, 6-1 and then Gustav Hansson dropped his match to Mate Cutura 6-3, 6-4.
Sophomore Vinod Gowda put the Rebels on the board, beating Julian cash 7-5, 6-4 at No. 6 singles.
For more information on Ole Miss Men's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook atOleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis.
#34 Mississippi State 4, #13 Ole Miss 1
Doubles
1. #14 Cash/Lakat (MSU) def. Scholtz/Babic (OM) 6-4
2. #45 Lindmark/Hansson (OM) vs. Cutura/Schmid (MSU) 6-6, sus.
3. Cruz/Haden (MSU) def. Kallberg/Hamilton (OM) 7-6(2)
Order of Finish: 1, 3
Singles
1. #15 Nik Scholtz (OM) vs. #108 Florian Lakat (MSU) 6-7(7), 7-6(3), sus.
2. #84 Stefan Lindmark (OM) vs. Juan Cruz (MSU) 6-3, 4-6, 5-5, sus.
3. Mate Cutura (MSU) def. Gustav Hansson (OM) 6-3, 6-4
4. #122 Tassilo Schmid (MSU) def. William Kallberg (OM) 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5
5. Rishab Argawal (MSU) def. Ricardo Jorge (OM) 6-3, 6-1
6. Vinod Gowda (OM) def. Julian Cash (MSU) 7-5, 6-4
Order of Finish: 5, 3, 6, 4
Players Mentioned
