Men’s Tennis Sweeps Belmont to Advance to Oxford Regional Final

OXFORD, Miss. – No. 15 overall seed Ole Miss (12-10) earned a dominant 4-0 victory over Belmont (13-5) in the NCAA Team Championships first round on Saturday. The Rebels advanced to the Round of 32 and will compete at home in the Regional Championship Match tomorrow at 1 p.m. versus Tulane.

Ole Miss defeated Belmont while only dropping two total sets in the match. The Rebels resiliently won in doubles, 2-1, and swept singles, 3-0. Ole Miss earned its second sweep of the 2021 season (7-0 at Arkansas, Feb. 21) and swept for the first time in tournament play this year.

The Rebels willed their way to winning the opening doubles point. Brady Draheim and Simon Junk gave the Rebels an early 1-0 advantage by defeating Belmont's Diego Castro and Tomas Luis, 6-3. Draheim and Junk improved to 8-3 across their last 11 matches at No. 2 doubles. Belmont leveled doubles, 1-all, by claiming No. 3 doubles. Jakob Cadonau and Lukas Engelhardt fell 4-6 in a close match to Jake Briggs and Arthur Toledo. The Rebels withstood an early test from the Bruins by earning a hard-fought victory at No. 1 Doubles. Ole Miss' No. 1 nationally ranked Finn Reynolds and Tim Sandkaulen overcame Marko Ilic 7-5 in a tiebreak to clinch doubles. Reynolds and Sandkaulen faced match point while returning, down 4-5, 30-40, and were able to fend off the Bruins.

Ole Miss cruised to victory via winning at No. 1, 3 and 4 singles. No. 29 Nikola Slavic won first, earning a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Luis on Court No. 3. Slavic earned his team-leading 14th victory this season and improved to 7-2 in the Rebels' last 10 competitions. John Hallquist Lithén won on Court 4 moments after Slavic to put Ole Miss ahead 3-0. Lithén defeated Castro in a lopsided result, 6-1, 6-2. The match was clinched by No. 32 Sandkaulen, who also clinched in doubles. Sandkaulen sealed a 4-0 Ole Miss victory by defeating Ilic in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.

No. 16 Reynolds, Junk and Engelhardt had their matches go unfinished. Reynolds and Engelhardt were one set up and leading in the second set in both of their matches at the time of stoppage.

Next Up

No. 15 Ole Miss now faces a showdown with Tulane in the NCAA Oxford Regional final. The Green Wave claimed a 4-0 sweep of Middle Tennessee to open action in Oxford on Saturday. First serve is set for 1 p.m. CT on Sunday. If the Rebels defeat the Green Wave, they will advance to play in the Sweet 16 on May 17 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.

Tickets for tomorrow's match are available for purchase online here:
https://olemisssports.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=TEN&linkID=olemiss&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode

If tomorrow's match is played indoors, the William F. Galtney Tennis Center will operate a capacity limit of the first 80 fans.

Regional Central

For all coverage of tomorrow's match including live scoring, video and tournament information go to: www.OleMissSports.com/NCAATennis

Head Coach Toby Hansson's Thoughts

"I thought there were some jitters there in doubles. Belmont played very well and pushed us in doubles. After we were able to get the doubles point I think the guys settled in and showed the quality we have on the court and started to play some good tennis. Great season for Belmont, they won their conference and every team in this championship is a good team and they are a confident team. Great win for us, and we're looking forward to the match tomorrow against Tulane. We loved the energy we received from the fans today and can't wait to play in front of the home crowd again tomorrow."

Singles Results

1. #32 Tim Sandkaulen (Ole Miss) def. Marko Ilic (Belmont), 6-3, 6-4
2. #16 Finn Reynolds (Ole Miss) vs. Arthur Toledo (Belmont), 7-5, 4-1 (unfinished)
3. #29 Nikola Slavic (Ole Miss) def. Tomas Luis (Belmont), 6-1, 6-2
4. J. Hallquist Lithen (Ole Miss) def. Diego Castro (Belmont), 6-2, 6-1
5. Simon Junk (Ole Miss) vs. Tasisei Miyamoto (Belmont), 6-7 (6), unfinished)
6. Lukas Engelhardt (Ole Miss) vs. Alfred Wallin (Belmont), 6-2, 3-2 (unfinished)

Doubles Results

1. #1 Finn Reynolds/Tim Sandkaulen (Ole Miss) def. Marko Ilic/Taisei Miyamoto (Belmont), 7-6 (5)
2. Brady Draheim/Simon Junk (Ole Miss) def. Diego Castro/Tomas Luis (Belmont), 6-3
3. Jake Briggs/Arthur Toledo (Belmont) def. Jakob Cadonau/Lukas Engelhardt (Ole Miss), 6-4

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Match 1 • Sat., May 8 • Tulane (15-7) vs. Middle Tennessee (17-8)

Tulane took quick control of the match by winning the doubles point 2-1 and never looked back, advancing to Sunday's regional final following a 4-0 victory over Middle Tennessee in the first round of the Oxford Regional of the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Team Championships on Saturday afternoon.

Tulane's 21st-ranked doubles duo of Hamish Stewart and Ewan Moore secured the doubles point after taking down MTSU's Pavel Motl and Stijn Slump, 6-3, at the No. 1 spot. The Green Wave's No. 3 duo of Luis Erlenbusch and Fynn Kuenkler won 6-4 over MTSU's Max Rauch and Francisco Rocha, while Middle Tennessee's lone win of the day came from Tom Moonen and Chris Edge over Akos Kotorman and Billy Suarez, 6-1.

In singles, four matches went to third sets, but Tulane only needed a victory at No. 4 from Billy Suarez over MTSU's Chris Edge, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, to clinch the match for the Green Wave. Other singles wins for Tulane came from the No. 1 slot of 35th-ranked Hamish Stewart over No. 55 Francisco Rocha (6-4, 7-5) and a win from Luis Erlenbusch at the third singles position over MTSU's Tom Moonen, 6-2, 6-3.

Tulane 4, MTSU 0

Doubles
1. #21 Hamish Stewart/Ewan Moore (Tulane) def. #77 Pavel Motl/Stijn Slump (MTSU), 6-3
2. Tom Moonen/Chris Edge (MTSU) def. Akos Kotorman/Billy Suarez (Tulane), 6-1
3. Luis Erlenbusch/Fynn Kuenkler (Tulane) def. Max Rauch/Francisco Rocha (MTSU), 6-4

Singles
1. #35 Hamish Stewart (Tulane) def. #55 Francisco Rocha (MTSU), 6-4, 7-5
2. Ewan Moore (Tulane) vs. Stijn Slump (MTSU), 7-5, 4-6, 3-0 (unfinished)
3. Luis Erlenbusch (Tulane) def. Tom Moonen (MTSU), 6-2, 6-3
4. Billy Suarez (Tulane) def.. Chris Edge (MTSU), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
5. Rafael de Alba (Tulane) vs. Pavel Motl (MTSU), 3-6, 6-2, 3-4 (unfinished)
6. Akos Kotorman (Tulane) vs. Oskar Michalek (MTSU), 5-7, 6-0, 2-4 (unfinished)

For more information on Ole Miss Men's Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook at OleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis, follow Coach Hansson on Twitter at @TennisToby.

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

Jakob Cadonau

Brady Draheim

Lukas Engelhardt

Simon Junk

Finn Reynolds

Tim Sandkaulen

Nikola Slavic