The University of Mississippi Athletics
We Meet Again
5/11/2017 | Athletics, Blog
As the Ole Miss men's tennis team gets set for its NCAA first round match against UC Santa Barbara Friday, we throw it back to 1997, the first ever meeting between the two schools that kicked off an NCAA Tournament run to the Final Four for the Rebels. That meeting also took place at UCLA.
Back then the top eight teams advanced to the finals site and then the rest of the Final 16 was determined by regionals around the country. The Rebels were the No. 2 overall seed that year, while UC Santa Barbara beat Washington and Pepperdine 4-1 in a regional to set up the round of 16 meeting.
Senior Ricardo Jorge was just a toddler and freshman Tim Sandkaulen wasn't even born yet, when the Rebels downed the Gauchos 4-0 in the Sweet Sixteen in 1997 on their way to the second of four Final Four appearances.
Led by All-Americans Johan Hede, Sebastien DeChaunac and Johan Landsberg at the top of the lineup, the Rebels downed the Gauchos 4-0. After winning the doubles, Ole Miss picked up singles wins from Landsberg at three, Martin Sjoqvist at four and Vikrant Chadha at five.
The Rebels went on to beat seventh-ranked Boise State 4-3 in the quarterfinals with DeChaunac clinching the win at No. 2 singles, setting up a semifinal showdown with Stanford. The Cardinal ended up winning the match 4-2, but the Rebels ended an outstanding year ranked No. 4 in the nation.
"This was another outstanding year for the Ole Miss tennis program," said hall of fame coach Billy Chadwick, following one of the best years in program history. "We won the SEC Tournament as well as the overall SEC Championship, and positioned ourselves for a run at the National Championship."
Twenty years later, Ole Miss and UCSB will face off for the second time Friday at 12 p.m. CT, from the Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts on the UCLA campus.รย
The Rebels have won eight of their last nine matches, while the Gauchos come in on a school-record 12-match win streak after capturing the Big West Tournament title to earn the automatic bid.
It's NCAA tennis time!
