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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
ITA Southern Regionals
Rebel Duo Books Ticket To New York City
10/17/2016 | Men's Tennis
AUBURN, Ala. - A great weekend on the Plains for the Ole Miss men's tennis team ended with a doubles championship at the ITA Southern Regional, as sophomore Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton came back to defeat Mississippi State's Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey Monday to punch their ticket to the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.
The Rebel duo will now head to New York Nov. 3-6 for the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships to be held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, site of the U.S Open Tennis Championships.
With Hamilton serving 4-3 in the opening set, the Rebel duo had a great chance to take control, but the State tandem broke back for 4-4. After another break by the Reb duo, Fallert looked to serve out the first set, but Braun and Foshey broke again for 5-5. Hamilton and Fallert had two breaks points but State erased them to go up 6-5. Hamilton had two game points on his serve to force a tiebreaker, but the Bulldog pair won a deciding point to take the set 7-5 and the early momentum.
Fallert and Hamilton flipped the momentum quickly, breaking early in the second set for 2-1. They won a huge deciding point on their serve to go up 3-1 and never looked back winning 6-2 to force a third set 10-point tiebreaker for all the marbles.
The Reb duo won the first three points of the tiebreaker, but State answered to tie it at 3-3. Fallert and Hamilton gained a 5-3 lead and then State came up with the next point to close within one, 5-4. That would be it for the Bulldogs though, as Fallert and Hamilton won five consecutive points for 10-4 to clinch the championship.
Quick hits
• Fallert and Hamilton became the fourth Rebel tandem to win the ITA Southern Regional Doubles Championship and the first since 2013.
• This marks the fifth overall ITA Southern Regional title for the Rebels.
• Fallert and Hamilton defeated teammates Gustav Hansson and Tim Sandkaulen in the semifinals to get to the final.
• Ole Miss had three players reach the quarterfinals is singles with Hansson defeating Sandkaulen to reach the semifinals.
Quoting head coach Toby Hansson
"It was a very close first set with a lot of breaks that could have gone either way. Fabi and Grey were playing their very best and the State team was playing at a high level as well. Niclas Braun was returning extremely well. We talked about making some changes to the way we approached it in the second set. The guys did a great job of staying positive, figuring what out they needed to do and executing the plan. We won some close games to take control of the second set and then in the tiebreaker our guys were returning very well."
On the tournament as a whole
"Overall we had a great tournament, winning a lot of matches in singles and doubles. We are excited for Fabi and Grey to go to New York and compete against some of the top players in the nation at one of the biggest individual tournaments in the fall."
Quoting Sophomore Fabian Fallert
"We are both very excited to be going to New York. Our hard work paid off. It's a great opportunity to play against really good players in one of the biggest tournaments in college tennis. The first set was really close, but we felt like we were playing at 100 percent. We just kept trying to stay positive and fight. We knew they couldn't keep that level up the entire time. We played better in the second set and won some close games and then we were able to close them out in the tiebreaker.
On playing with Grey
"We've played so many matches together and we have a lot of fun on the court. Chemistry is huge in doubles. We know each other so well, that we know how each of us is going to react in certain situations. We enjoy competing and you can see it when we're out there on the court."
For more information on Ole Miss Men's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook at OleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis, follow Coach Hansson on Twitter at @TennisToby.
ITA Southern Regional Championships
Doubles
Final -Grey Hamilton/Fabian Fallert def. Niclas Braun/Trevor Foshey (MSU) 5-7, 6-2, 10-4.
Players Mentioned
