The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men's Tennis Set for SEC Tournament
4/25/2018 | Men's Tennis
SEC Tournament Central | SEC Bracket | Live Scoring | Live Streaming (Courts 1-6 only)
OXFORD, Miss. - It's SEC Tournament week, and the Ole Miss men's tennis team opens play Thursday against the No. 7 seed South Carolina at 12 p.m., from the Alabama Tennis Stadium.
This will be the second meeting of the year for the Rebels and Gamecocks.
Follow Along…
Fans can follow the Rebels during the SEC Tournament with live scoring and live streaming (only courts 1-6). Thursday's match will only have live scoring, as the two teams will be playing on courts 7-12. The links are available on the calendar at OleMissSports.com.
Last Time Out…
In their last action, Ole Miss dropped a 4-3 match at Arkansas to conclude the regular season. The Rebels won the doubles point and got singles wins from Fabian Fallert and Cotter Wilson, but the Razorbacks earned wins on courts 1, 2, 4 and 5 in singles.
Ole Miss at the SEC Tournament…
Ole Miss has reached at least the semifinals of the SEC Championship 17 times, and won the tournament three times (1997, 2008 and 2009). Last year, the Rebels defeated Auburn 4-1 in the second round and then lost to Florida 4-0 in the quarterfinals.
Last Year at SECs…
At last year's SEC Tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Rebels were the sixth seed and downed the 11th seed, Auburn, 4-1 in the second round. Ole Miss took the doubles point and then got singles wins from Fabian Fallert, Filip Kraljevic and Grey Hamilton to close out the Tigers. In their quarterfinal match against the three seed Florida, the Rebels dropped the doubles point and then courts 1, 5 and 6 in singles.
Scouting South Carolina…
South Carolina comes in as the No. 7 seed in the tournament ranked No. 28 with an overall record of 18-7. The Gamecocks finished 7-5 in the SEC regular season, winning six of its last seven regular season matches. South Carolina has won the doubles point in five straight matches and 17 matches overall this season. They are led by No. 36 Gabriel Friedrich, who owns a x-x overall record, x-x at No. 1 singles. Paul Jubb is ranked No. 58 with a 22-87 overall record, 9-2 in the SEC. Three doubles pairs for the Gamecocks made it into the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings: : No. 28 Yancy Dennis and Gabriel Friedrich (7-3), No. 38 Dennis and Harrison O'Keefe (7-4), No. 57 Friedrich and Thomas Mayronne (7-2).
Rebels vs. Gamecocks…
Ole Miss leads the all-time series vs. South Carolina 25-10, but the Gamecocks have won two straight including a 5-2 win earlier this year in Columbia. The Rebels and Gamecocks are tied 1-1 all-time in the SEC Tournament.
Last Meeting…
In the previous meeting on March 25, Ole Miss won the doubles point with a pair of wins on courts two and three, but the Gamecocks rallied to defeat the Rebels 5-2. The lineups for this meeting will look a little different than the previous meeting, as the Rebels were dealing with several injuries on that day.
The Winner Gets…
The winner of this match will face the No. 2 seed, Mississippi State, Friday at 12 p.m.
Rebels in the Rankings…
In the latest Oracle/ITA Rankings, the Rebels are ranked No. 40. Individually, sophomore Tim Sandkaulen is ranked No. 31 in singles and also ranked twice in doubles: No. 17 with Fabian Fallert and No. 46 with Grey Hamilton. Despite missing the last 12 matches, Gustav Hansson is ranked No. 44 in singles.
At the Net with Head Coach Toby Hansson…
"It's tournament time and it's time to really pick it up a notch. We played them very close at South Carolina during the regular season but I feel like we are in a much better position this time around. We'll see some different matchups on Thursday, so it will be interesting how that changes things. The most important thing for us is to believe in each other and compete hard for every point, and everything else will take care of itself. We can't wait to get started."
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.
