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No. 14 Rebels Shut Out Tennessee
4/2/2015 | Men's Tennis
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OXFORD, Miss. -- On a beautiful spring night at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center, the No. 14 Ole Miss men's tennis team grabbed a huge doubles point and then carried the momentum into singles on their way to a 4-0 shutout of visiting Tennessee.
With their sixth straight win against the Vols, the Rebels improved to 14-6 overall and 6-3 in the SEC, as they get set to host Kentucky Saturday at 1 p.m., on Senior Day.
Tennessee has always had strong doubles, and especially at No. 1 with one of the nation's best teams. William Kallberg and Grey Hamilton dominated at No. 3 doubles 6-1, but Tennessee secured the No. 2 match 6-3. The point came down to Nik Scholtz and Zvonimir Babic against defending NCAA Champions Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese. Scholtz and Babic were able to break early and hold off the current No. 2 team in the nation 6-4 to clinch the point and give the Rebels the 1-0 lead.
"They are very good in doubles, so for us to get the doubles point, I think it kind of deflated them a little," head coach Toby Hansson said. "We played solid at three doubles. They have a great team at one, very experienced, so to get that win was huge to clinch the point."
"Every team out here is a good team, so we don't really look at the rankings too much, Scholtz said. "We know that if we don't play well, we're not going to win. Today we played solid. With the new rules, if you let up in doubles, it's over quick. Getting the doubles point gives you such a momentum boost. You could see that most everyone fed off the doubles point and played really well in singles. We took care of business. Obviously I am a little disappointed I couldn't finish my match, but at the end of the day it's a team sport, and we won 4-0."
Moving into singles, the Rebels kept the foot on the gas pedal at most positions, winning four first sets. First off the court, freshman Gustav Hansson won a tight first set against UT's Luis Valero 6-4 and then dominated the second set 6-0 to make it 2-0 Ole Miss.
Sophomore Ricardo Jorge got the Rebels within one, defeating Andrew Dromsky 6-4, 6-4 on court six to improve to 18-7 overall and 6-3 in dual matches.
Stefan Lindmark finished off Jack Schipanski and the Vols at No. 2 singles to clinch the Rebels third shutout in SEC play. He won 6-3, 6-1 to improve to 7-0 in the SEC and 11-3 at No. 2 singles.
"I played pretty well today," Lindmark said. "He's a great player, but the match-up favored me. I knew that he didn't like to play long rallies, and I like playing that type of player. Prior to this match, I didn't realize I was undefeated until I saw it being mentioned. To be honest I thought about it more this match and it made me a little nervous."
"In the locker room we talked about how the doubles point is only one point, and we needed to maintain the momentum," Coach Hansson said. "We controlled the singles from the beginning. Gus had three deciding points go against him, but he when he finally got that break he was able to win the set and then get up big in the second. Ricardo had a tough match-up with a solid lefty at six, but he played well. How fitting for Stefan to close it out, he is playing some excellent tennis right now. It was a very impressive performance tonight with a great crowd for Easter weekend."
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Players Mentioned
