.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Southern Intercollegiates
Tim Sandkaulen Wins Southern Intercollegiate
9/10/2017 | Men's Tennis
Final Draws (PDF)
ATHENS, Ga. -- On the same day that Rafael Nadal earned his 16th grand slam title, Ole Miss men's tennis sophomore Tim Sandkaulen earned his first collegiate title. Sandkaulen was declared co-champion of Division I Singles at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships hosted by Georgia.
Sandkaulen won twice on Sunday to reach the final against UNC Asheville's Henry Patten. The final was scheduled for Monday, but due to the forecasted weather in the area from Hurricane Irma, both players were declared co-champions.
The oldest fall college tennis tournament in the nation, Sandkaulen became the 50th champion.
After a first-round bye, Sandkaulen won his next two matches in straight sets to reach Sunday's quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, Sandkaulen rallied to defeat Tennessee Tech's Eduardo Mena, who ended the 2017 season ranked No. 54 in the nation. Mena grabbed the early lead, winning the first set but Sandkaulen came back to win 3-6, 6-4. 6-4.
Later in the afternoon, Sandkaulen held off Georgia junior Jan Zielinski in the semifinals, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Zielinski earned All-America honors in 2017 and made it to the NCAA Doubles Championship match.
Sandkaulen is the first Rebel to win the title at the Southern Intercollegiate since two-time All-American Jonas Lutjen (also from Germany) won it in 2012.
"Tim played really well this weekend," head coach Toby Hansson said. I was impressed with the way he competed. In the first match he played extremely well against a really good player in strong wind. Tim was tougher than his opponent in the end. He served well and stepped up putting pressure on the other guy. In the semifinals, Tim beat an All-American and All-SEC player.
"The things we've been working on are starting to show in Tim's game. When he plays like this, he is definitely one of the top players in the SEC and in the country."
Sandkaulen enjoyed some big moments his freshman year -- including a huge win at Mississippi State to help the Rebels win their second straight against the Bulldogs, and his first SEC clinch -- but he worked hard this summer hoping to take his game to another level this year.
"I talked to Toby and Devin about what I should be doing on the court and how I should be playing, and this summer I worked really hard on my game. Today, I played the way I wanted to play, and I was able basically able to play my game the entire weekend. Winning two really hard matches today will help me out for the rest of the season. I am playing better than I was coming into the season last year."
The Rebels posted 12 singles and 5 doubles wins and on the weekend. Among the other highlights, senior Zvonimir Babic defeated 2017 SEC Freshman of the Year, Nathan Ponwith, on Saturday.
"We finished the tournament strong winning five of six matches. I am very happy with the way we finished and really excited about where we are at right now this early in the season," Hansson said. It's encouraging to see how our players playing better now than they were this time last year. Overall, I am pleased with everybody's attitude this week and if we can continue doing a good job of competing every time we play, moving forward, we're going to be a really good team."
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
