The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Continue Push to Host in NCAA's
4/16/2015 | Men's Tennis, Blog
With a split of road matches at South Carolina and No. 8 Georgia, the Ole Miss men's tennis team moved up one spot to No. 13 in the nation entering the Southeastern Conference Men's Tennis Championship this week in College Station, Texas.
The Rebels finished tied for fourth place in the SEC standings, but by virtue of a tiebreaker, they claimed the No. 4 seed and a double-bye to Friday's quarterfinal round, having defeated both No. 22 ranked Vanderbilt and No. 17 ranked Florida during the regular season.
The fourth-seeded Rebels will play the fifth-seeded Commodores in quarterfinal action Friday. Vanderbilt defeated Auburn 4-2 in second-round action Thursday. In their regular-season meeting, Ole Miss shut out Vanderbilt 4-0 in Oxford.
"We have had some ups and downs," head coach Toby Hansson said. "It hasn't been a smooth ride all the way, but we learned something from that as well. We have taken the losses we have had and learned from them and moved on. We're excited to earn the No. 4 seed and head to Texas A&M."
Ole Miss is led by senior Nik Scholtz, the reigning SEC Player of the Year, and junior Stefan Lindmark, tied for the best record in SEC play with a perfect 8-0 record. Schultz, ranked No. 19 in the nation, looks to play his way back into the top 16 that would make him a four-time All-American and earn a seed in the NCAA Individual Championships.
As a team, the Rebels head to College Station making a push to host the NCAA First and Second Rounds for the 12th time and for the first time since the 2013 season. A win over Auburn or Vanderbilt would likely solidify their spot in the top 16 of the national rankings.
Last year, each of the top 16 teams earned one of the 16 national seeds, and only No. 16 seed Columbia did not host first and second round matches.
"We don't really talk about that too much," Hansson said. "We try to stay where we are. We have a tough assignment in the first round. That's what we're focused on. Needless to say, the guys are aware of the situation.
"A win would solidify a spot in the top 16, you would think. But we're going there to win the tournament. We're not happy to get by the first round. We're looking ahead. We want to go all the way, but the first match comes first, and we're going to treat that one the same way we have treated every match this season."
Players Mentioned
