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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
LSU
Scholtz Delivers No. 13 Rebels 4-3 Win at LSU
3/27/2015 | Men's Tennis
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Senior Nik Scholtz, the reigning SEC Player of the Year, erased six match points to deliver a 4-3 win for the No. 13 Ole Miss men's tennis team against No. 24 LSU here Friday night in front of a huge crowd at the `Dub' Robinson Tennis Stadium.
With the win, the Rebels improved to 13-5 and 5-2 in the SEC, while LSU fell to 14-4 and 3-3 in the SEC. The Rebels, who handed the Tigers their first home loss this year, will now head to College Station, Texas to face the No. 9 Aggies Sunday at Noon.
"We couldn't be prouder of the team for hanging in there and fighting until the last point," head coach Toby Hansson said. "It was a big time performance from the entire team and especially Nik. He stepped up and delivered probably the biggest win in his career here. He showed unbelievable poise to battle back from down a break and save that many match points. This is an amazing win for us. It was an unbelievable atmosphere and a huge crowd."
LSU led 3-0 after taking the doubles point and straight set wins on courts four and five, but the Rebels won four first sets and were able to close out straight set wins at six, three and two in that order to set up Scholtz.Â
With the match squared at 3-3, all eyes turned to court one where Scholtz was serving 3-5 in the third set. He faced three match points at 15-40, but staved off every one of them, setting up Daigle to serve it out. Daigle jumped out to a 40-15 lead, but Scholtz battled back to a deciding point. After a long exchange of shots, Scholtz forced Daigle to miss a forehand, evening up the frame 5-5. Both players held serve to take the match to a tiebreaker for the team win. Daigle led the breaker 2-1 early, but Scholtz won six straight points to take it 7-2 and clinch the victory. Scholtz won the first set 6-3, but Daigle stormed back to take the second 6-1.
"I was trying to control what I could control and win my service game and make him have to serve it out," Scholtz said. "He was up 40-15; I just went for it and I am glad I was able to get it. I always tell myself to keep fighting and I did that. I played a solid tiebreak. Both points he won he had to work for it. It was a great match. The crowd was into it and they were on me pretty much the entire time. I was glad to be able to come through."
LSU gained the early momentum in the match by winning the doubles point with a pair of wins at Nos. 3 and 1. They would increase their lead to 3-0 as Boris Arias downed William Kallberg 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4 and then Justin Butsch defeated Ricardo Jorge 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5.
The Rebels began their comeback when Vinod Gowda finished off Andrew Korinek 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6 singles for his second straight win. Freshman Gustav Hansson beat Tam Trinh 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3 singles to get the Rebels within one, 3-2.Â
Junior Stefan Lindmark won a huge first set tiebreaker against LSU's Chris Simpson, 7-6(5) and then rallied from 4-5 down in the second to win it 7-5 and tie the overall match, setting up Scholtz for the clinch.
"They took it to us in doubles, but we've done it before," Hansson said. "We always believe we are never out of a match. Vinod, Gustav and Stefan played extremely well. We just keep hanging around and when you do that, good things will happen. It's nice to get rewarded after being on the other side of this type of match in Starkville."
The team arrived in Baton Rouge Thursday night to rain, so unfortunately, they were not able to practice as planned.
"The courts had a strange feel to them and it took some getting used to," Scholtz said. "It was also extremely windy, so that made it tough for us in the beginning. We had to adapt to the conditions, but we showed major grit and determination and just fought until the end. I am very proud of this team."
For more information on Ole Miss Men's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook at OleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis.
Players Mentioned
