Men’s Tennis Battles the Elements at Day Two of the Commodore Invite

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Despite a brief intermission due to some passing thunderstorms in Nashville, the Rebels fought through a long day of play at the Commodore Invitational on Saturday to set themselves up for Sunday's finale.

Finishing the day with a pair of singles wins alongside the team notching its first doubles win of the fall season, the Rebels now enter day three of the Commodore Invitational with a 3-9 singles record and 1-3 doubles record overall.

"We had another good day of competition here in Nashville," head coach Toby Hansson said. "I feel like every match is a good experience for these guys. We will keep competing hard tomorrow and see if we can finish strong."

The Rebels got their day started with doubles play, where the duo of Lukas Engelhardt and John Hallquist Lithén got the team going right from the beginning by earning a 6-4 doubles victory over Clemson's duo of Plans Gonzalez/Azuma. This weekend marks the duo's first time playing together in doubles since coming to Ole Miss.

Freshman Gordon Whitwell and Walker Stearns also saw an early doubles match to start off their day, matching up against the No. 17 ranked doubles player in the country, Marcus McDaniel, alongside Elias Shokry of Georgia Tech. The young Rebel pairing put up a good fight, but ultimately fell short as the Georgia Tech partners came away with a 6-2 win.

Engelhardt then got the ball rolling for the Rebels in singles play, taking down No. 89 ranked Jan Galka (Auburn) 6-4, 7-5 to earn his first singles win of the year, along with his first ranked singles win since March 28, 2022 (Defeated No. 43 Broska of Mississippi State). Engelhardt's day ultimately finished with a singles record of 1-1, later falling to South Carolina's James Story.

Coming off of a ranked singles win of his own on Friday, Lithén also ended his day with a 1-1 record by notching a win over Nic Meister of Illinois. Now sitting with two singles wins on the weekend, Lithén enters day three in Nashville leading the team in singles wins thus far at this weekend's tournament.

Stearns and Whitwell rounded out the Rebel lineup, each finishing Saturday 0-2 in singles play. They now will wait to learn their singles opponents for tomorrow, as the two were originally scheduled to have to play against each other.

Sunday's Commodore Invitational finale will begin at 8 a.m. CT with the playing of the final round of doubles. The final round of singles will then be played immediately following to conclude the tournament.

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.

SATURDAY RESULTS

Doubles
Lithén/No. 56 Engelhardt (Ole Miss) def. Plans Gonzalez/Azuma (Clemson) 6-4
Shokry/No. 17 McDaniel (Georgia Tech) def. Stearns/Whitwell (Ole Miss) 6-2

Singles
William Grant (Vanderbilt) def. John Hallquist Lithén (Ole Miss) 6-3, 7-5
Lukas Engelhardt (Ole Miss) def. No. 89 Jan Galka (Auburn) 6-4, 7-5
Mitchell Deames (Vanderbilt) def. Walker Stearns (Ole Miss) 6-4, 7-5
Eshan Talluri (Texas) def. Gordon Whitwell (Ole Miss) 6-4, 6-4
John Hallquist Lithén (Ole Miss) def. Nic Meister (Illinois) 6-4, 6-3
James Story (South Carolina) def. Lukas Engelhardt 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
Elias Shokry (Georgia Tech) def. Walker Stearns (Ole Miss) 6-2, 6-2
Connor Robb-Wilcox (Vanderbilt) def. Gordon Whitwell (Ole Miss) 6-4, 6-3

FRIDAY RESULTS

Doubles
Dobai/No. 35 Murgett (Auburn) def. Lithén/No. 56 Engelhardt (Ole Miss) 8-5
Talluri/No. 41 Woldeab (Texas) def. Stearns/Whitwell (Ole Miss) 8-4

Singles
John Hallquist Lithén (Ole Miss) def. No. 59 Klopper (Vanderbilt) 6-4, 6-2
No. 92 Mandlik (Oklahoma) def. Lukas Engelhardt (Ole Miss) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6
Da Silva (South Carolina) def. Walker Stearns (Ole Miss) 6-1, 6-1
Morgan (South Carolina) def. Gordon Whitwell (Ole Miss) 7-5, 7-5

SUNDAY DRAWS

Doubles
Lithén/ No. 56 Engelhardt (Ole Miss) against Casabon/Robb-Wilcox (Vanderbilt) in Blue Draw
Stearns/Whitwell (Ole Miss) against Anselmo/No. 58 Mandlik (Oklahoma) in Green Draw

Singles
John Hallquist Lithén against No. 91 Nate Bonetto (Florida)
Lukas Engelhardt against James Story (South Carolina)
Walker Stearns (Ole Miss) against TBD
Gordon Whitwell (Ole Miss) against TBD

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

Lukas Engelhardt

Walker Stearns

Gordon Whitwell

The University of Mississippi Athletics