The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Alabama
Rebels Drop Tight 4-3 Match to Alabama
4/3/2016 | Men's Tennis
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team dropped the doubles point to Alabama and fell behind 3-0 but rallied to get within one, before coming up just short in the end, 4-3, Sunday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
With the Tide leading 3-2 and Ole Miss up at six, Matthew Roussow finished off a comeback win against Rebel junior Ricardo Jorge at No. 5 singles to clinch the 4-3 win. Jorge raced past Roussow to win the first set 6-0, and served 3-1, but Roussow broke back and went on to win the second set 7-5. Roussow won a deciding point at 3-4 on his serve to hold and then broke Jorge at 5-5 and served it out.
Roussow broke Jorge to start the third and later gave it back for 4-4. Jorge lost his serve again and Roussow served for it at 5-4. Jorge had multiple chances to break back at 15-40, but Roussow hit two great first serves and then an ace on match point.
Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton continued their great play at No. 2 doubles winning 6-2, but Alabama earned a pair of wins at three and one to secure the opening point.
The Crimson Tide put the Rebels in a hole with two straight-set wins on courts three and one. Hamilton fell to Becker O'Shaughnessey 6-2, 6-4 and then Stefan Lindmark went down to 43rd-ranked Mazen Osama 6-2, 6-3 at one.
The Rebels began their comeback as Gustav Hansson finished off a straight-set win, 6-4, 6-3, against Bama's Korey Lovett at No. 2 singles. Fallert overcame a late break in the second set to win a tiebreaker for a 6-2, 7-6(3) win on court four, putting the Rebels within one.
Zvonimir Babic was serving for his match at six when Bama clinched. He ended up completing the rally, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Notables…
• Ole Miss falls to 8-8 overall, 3-6 in the SEC.
• Gustav Hansson improved to 20-8 overall, 12-4 in dual matches. He is 7-2 in the SEC.
• Grey Hamilton and Fabian Fallert improved to 13-4 overall, 11-3 in dual matches and 7-1 in the SEC.
• Zvonimir Babic improved to 4-1 in dual matches, 3-1 in the SEC.
Quoting Head Coach Toby Hansson…
"We were a little flat in doubles. We weren't as sharp as I've seen us. We were not timing the ball right on the returns. We weren't able to handle the situation when we started losing. In singles, we were battling in every match. It was a game of inches today, and they came up with the inch. They deserve to win the match."
On Stefan's match…
"He didn't play his best, but he had a chance to get back in the second set with break points at 3-5. If Stefan gets that point and then he's serving, we are back in that match."
On handling dropping tight games…
Gus lost a couple of no-ad points early in the second set, but did a good job of handling that situation and moving forward. As a team we need to do a better job of playing the next point and getting excited for the next point. We need to address that and get better at it. If we do those things, than I am confident we're going to get back on track."
On Fabian and Ricky's matches…
"Nice to see Fabi close that tiebreaker out. He's lost a lot of tough matches. It's always nice when you can win a tight set and close out a match. Ricky was inches away from getting back on track for 5-5. So many close points there, but the other guy took his chances and played a little unorthodox. He kind of threw Ricky off his rhythm a little bit. We were up a break in the second set, and the other guy started playing a little better, he started serving better. Ricky got off his game a little and perhaps started protecting his lead a little unconsciously. In the end, it was 15-40, and Matthew hit three first serves in the court and finished off with an ace."
Up next...
The Rebels will host Alcorn State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 10 a.m., Thursday.
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.
Players Mentioned
