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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
UC Santa Barbara - NCAA First Round
Men's Tennis Advances in NCAA Tournament
5/12/2017 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES - UC Santa Barbara came into the NCAA Championships with a school-record 12-match win streak, but the Ole Miss men's tennis team sent the Gauchos packing with a 4-1 win in the first round of the NCAA Championships here Friday at the Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts.
The Rebels will face the UCLA, a 4-0 winner over Army, Saturday at 3 p.m. CT for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen in Athens, Georgia.
Ole Miss won a very close doubles point against UCSB and then Fabian Fallert celebrated his birthday with his 12th consecutive win at No. 4 singles to hand the Rebels a 2-1 lead. Filip Kraljevic rallied to win his match in a third set at No. 5 singles and then Grey Hamilton finished off his match in a three-setter on court six to clinch the victory.
Doubles was as close as you can get with Kraljevic and freshman Tim Sandkaulen winning 6-4 on court three. The other two matches went to tiebreakers, with UCSB handing Ricardo Jorge and Zvonimir Babic just their second dual match loss, 7-6(2) at No. 2. The point came down to a tiebreaker at one, where Fallert and Hamilton, ranked No. 19, edged 35th-ranked Simon Freund and Morgan Mays 7-6(4).
UCSB did wrangle some momentum back by taking four first sets in singles and then tied the match with a win on court two. However, the Rebels did not blink.
Fallert came into the NCAAs with the third best winning percentage at No. 4 singles. He showed why, handing UCSB's Anders Holm his first loss in 12 matches, 7-5, 6-1, as the Rebels regained the lead for good.
Three of the remaining four matches went to third sets. Kraljevic rallied to win his match against UCSB's Cody Rakela 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 singles. Hamilton won his first set against Teague Hamilton 6-3, but dropped a tight second set 7-5, before talking control in the third and winning it 6-3 to clinch.
At the Net…
• The Rebels improved to 17-9 on the season have won 9 of their last 10 matches
• The Rebels snapped UC Santa Barbara's school-record 12-match win streak
• Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton clinched the doubles point to improve to 16-11 overall
• Tim Sandkaulen and Filip Kraljevic are now 10-3 overall, 8-2 in dual matches
• Grey Hamilton clinched his fourth match of the year and improved to 9-4 in dual matches, 6-3 at No. 6 singles
• Fallert has now won 12 straight and improved to 19-3 in dual matches
• Fallert snapped his opponent's 11-match win streak
• Kraljevic evened his dual match record to 9-9
Complete Results
Doubles
1. #19 Fallert/Hamilton (OM) def. #35 Freund/Mays (UCSB) 7-6(4)
2. Holm/Moreno (UCSB) def. Jorge/Babic (OM) 7-6(2)
3. Sandkaulen/Kraljevic (OM) def. Prior/Rakela (UCSB) 6-4
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. #23 Gustav Hansson vs. Morgan Mays (UCSB) 3-6, 6-3, 2-3, sus.
2. Nicolas Moreno (UCSB) def. Ricardo Jorge (OM) 6-3, 6-2
3. Tim Sandkaulen (OM) vs. Simon Freund (UCSB) 6-7, 6-5, sus.
4. Fabian Fallert (OM) def. Anders Holm (UCSB) 7-5, 6-1
5. Filip Kraljevic (OM) def. Cody Rakela (UCSB) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
6. Grey Hamilton (OM) def. Teague Hamilton (UCSB) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 4, 5, 6
Thoughts from head coach Toby Hansson...
"We played a really good UCSB team today and I am proud of the way we competed from the first point to the last. We knew that they are good in doubles but we showed once again that we're able to bring our best stuff when it matters most. In singles we continued to compete really well and battled hard to finally get that last point. This team enjoys playing in the big moment and tomorrow we get another opportunity to compete and represent our great university."
Junior Grey Hamilton…
"It was a huge win, as every win in the postseason is. It was especially big because UCSB is a really solid team. They pushed us in the doubles and the level was really high on all three courts. We were able to get the point with a win on three and a clutch tiebreak on one. In singles it was close on most of the courts, but we were able to close strongly down the stretch in some third sets. Overall, it was an impressive performance and we couldn't be happier with how it went today. We are looking forward to the match tomorrow."
Up next…
The Rebels will face the No. 5 overall seed, UCLA, in the second round, Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. Fans can follow the match with live scoring.
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
