The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
South Carolina
No. 14 Rebels Top Gamecocks 4-2
4/9/2015 | Men's Tennis
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The first meeting between the No. 14 Ole Miss men's tennis team and South Carolina was at a neutral site. This time the two teams faced off in Columbia, but the result was the same, as the Rebels rallied again to defeat the Gamecocks 4-2 at the Carolina Tennis Stadium.
The Rebels, 16-6 overall and 8-3 in the SEC, now head to Athens, Georgia to face No. 8 Georgia Saturday at 4 p.m., CT.
After dropping the doubles point and a quick singles match at No. 4, the Rebels got straight set wins from Ricardo Jorge, Stefan Lindmark and Vinod Gowda to give the Rebels a 3-2 lead.
With the Rebels needing only one more match to win they looked to freshman Gustav Hansson, the clincher in the first meeting, and reigning SEC Player of the Year, Nik Scholtz. It was a race to the finish as both jumped out to big leads in the third set. With Hansson having triple match point, Scholtz finished off the only player to beat him last year in the SEC, Andrew Adams, 7-5, 1-6, 6-1.
"What a great job by the guys to bounce back after the doubles," head coach Toby Hansson said. "They were very determined and made it a physical match. Stefan, Ricardo and Vinod really gave us a lift winning in straight sets. In the end, we were able to play really well in the third sets and come out on top."
"It's always great being the one to clinch, but everyone deserves a lot of credit," said Scholtz after clinching for the fourth time in SEC play and second on the road. "We need to put this behind us now and prepare for Georgia. It's a massive opportunity and I have never been more excited for a match in a while."
Scholtz won his fifth in a row and improved to 13-3 at No. 1 singles.
South Carolina came out firing in doubles and put up a quick win at No. 3, 6-1, followed by a 6-3 victory on court one to clinch the point and the early 1-0 lead.
The Gamecocks kept the pressure on and took a 2-0 lead, as Andrew Schafer defeated William Kallberg 6-1, 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
The Rebels found some momentum though, winning the first sets at one, two, five and six.
Lindmark got the Rebels on the board with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kyle Koch at No. 2 singles to remain undefeated in the SEC at 8-0. Lindmark will try to become the fifth player in school history to finish the SEC undefeated when the Rebels face Georgia Saturday.
In their first meeting this year, Jorge and South Carolina's Thomas Mayronne went three sets, but this time Jorge only needed two, downing Mayronne 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6 to square the match.
Gowda put the Rebels ahead 3-2, winning a huge first set tiebreaker 7-6(7) against Sam Swank and then dominating the second set 6-1. He is now 8-3 in dual matches, 4-2 in SEC play.
Gustav Hansson had triple match point against Thiago Pinheiro at No. 3 singles when Scholtz aced Adams for the win. The freshman, who clinched the last meeting, lost a tight opening set 6-4, but rallied to win the second 6-1 and then raced out to the 5-1 in the third.
Players Mentioned
