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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Men’s Tennis Sees Strong End to Commodore Invitational
9/25/2022 | Men's Tennis
Rebels Go 2-2 in Singles on Sunday to Close Out Their Weekend in Nashville
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Ole Miss men's tennis team wrapped up play at the Commodore Invitational on Sunday, closing out the tournament with a pair of singles wins to finish off the team's weekend in Nashville.
The Rebels closed out Sunday with a record of 2-2 in singles and 0-2 in doubles, finishing their weekend 5-11 overall in singles and 1-5 overall in doubles to open the fall season.
"We had three good days of tough competition," head coach Toby Hansson said. "I feel like we learned a lot from these matches and I feel like it gives us a lot of motivation to keep improving."
John Hallquist Lithén tackled yet another ranked foe in his final singles match of the weekend playing in Flight A, battling it out with No. 91 Nate Bonetto of Florida. Lithén would drop the opening set to Bonetto in a 7-6 tiebreak, but the junior bounced back for the Rebels by earning hard-fought 7-5 and 6-4 set victories to close out his Commodore Invite with a win.
"These weekends where we play many different teams and many different matches, it gets tough in terms of fatigue," Lithén said. "Friday and Saturday you're feeling fresh, but then Sunday everyone is tired, so it was definitely tough to find some energy in the beginning of singles. I really just tried my best to gather myself, refocus and then just push myself for every point."
Lithén ends his weekend a team-best 3-1 overall in singles play, notching two ranked wins over No. 91 Bonetto and No. 59 Joubert Klopper of Vanderbilt on Friday. The Gothenburg, Sweden, native comes off of a 2022 dual season where he also tallied a pair of ranked singles victories, primarily playing in the No. 3 singles position for the Rebels.
"I honestly don't look into the rankings of players all that much," Lithén said. "I played two ranked players and two unranked players this weekend, and honestly I'd say the unranked players were just as good as the ranked players. My main focus is to always just play my game. If you play your game you can beat anyone, but if you don't stick to your game that's when you can lose to everyone."
Freshman Gordon Whitwell also helped put an exclamation point on the Rebels' day three finale by notching his first collegiate singles win with Ole Miss, taking down Vanderbilt's Paul Wang 6-1, 6-3. Whitwell stands as the lone freshman in the Rebel lineup for this fall season.
Lukas Engelhardt and Walker Stearns both had singles battles of their own to round out play for the Rebels, but were unable to find wins to wrap up their weekends. Engelhardt would drop a 6-4, 6-1 match to Auburn's Alejandro Moreno, while Stearns fell 6-4, 6-0 at the hands of Eshan Talluri of Texas.
Both of the Rebels' doubles matches to open up play on Sunday would result in losses for the pairings of Lithén/Engelhardt and Stearns/Whitwell. Lithén and Engelhardt's match ended with the duo falling in a 7-6 tiebreaker while Stearns and Whitwell dropped their fixture 6-4.
After returning home from Nashville, the Rebels will have a little less than a week to prepare to head to the 2022 ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The tournament is set to run October 1-9, consisting of Pre-Qualifying (Oct. 1-2), Qualifying (Oct. 3-4) and Main Draws (Oct. 5-9) in both singles and doubles.
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.
Doubles
Casabon/Robb-Wilcox (Vanderbilt) def. Lithén/ No. 56 Engelhardt (Ole Miss) 7-6
Anselmo/No. 58 Mandlik (Oklahoma) def. Stearns/Whitwell (Ole Miss) 6-4
Singles
John Hallquist Lithén def. No. 91 Nate Bonetto (Florida) 6-7, 7-5, 6-4
Alejandro Moreno (Auburn) def. Lukas Engelhardt 6-4, 6-1
Eshan Talluri (Texas) def. Walker Stearns (Ole Miss) 6-4, 6-0
Gordon Whitwell (Ole Miss) def. Paul Wang (Vanderbilt) 6-1, 6-3
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
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
The Rebels closed out Sunday with a record of 2-2 in singles and 0-2 in doubles, finishing their weekend 5-11 overall in singles and 1-5 overall in doubles to open the fall season.
"We had three good days of tough competition," head coach Toby Hansson said. "I feel like we learned a lot from these matches and I feel like it gives us a lot of motivation to keep improving."
John Hallquist Lithén tackled yet another ranked foe in his final singles match of the weekend playing in Flight A, battling it out with No. 91 Nate Bonetto of Florida. Lithén would drop the opening set to Bonetto in a 7-6 tiebreak, but the junior bounced back for the Rebels by earning hard-fought 7-5 and 6-4 set victories to close out his Commodore Invite with a win.
"These weekends where we play many different teams and many different matches, it gets tough in terms of fatigue," Lithén said. "Friday and Saturday you're feeling fresh, but then Sunday everyone is tired, so it was definitely tough to find some energy in the beginning of singles. I really just tried my best to gather myself, refocus and then just push myself for every point."
Lithén ends his weekend a team-best 3-1 overall in singles play, notching two ranked wins over No. 91 Bonetto and No. 59 Joubert Klopper of Vanderbilt on Friday. The Gothenburg, Sweden, native comes off of a 2022 dual season where he also tallied a pair of ranked singles victories, primarily playing in the No. 3 singles position for the Rebels.
"I honestly don't look into the rankings of players all that much," Lithén said. "I played two ranked players and two unranked players this weekend, and honestly I'd say the unranked players were just as good as the ranked players. My main focus is to always just play my game. If you play your game you can beat anyone, but if you don't stick to your game that's when you can lose to everyone."
Freshman Gordon Whitwell also helped put an exclamation point on the Rebels' day three finale by notching his first collegiate singles win with Ole Miss, taking down Vanderbilt's Paul Wang 6-1, 6-3. Whitwell stands as the lone freshman in the Rebel lineup for this fall season.
Lukas Engelhardt and Walker Stearns both had singles battles of their own to round out play for the Rebels, but were unable to find wins to wrap up their weekends. Engelhardt would drop a 6-4, 6-1 match to Auburn's Alejandro Moreno, while Stearns fell 6-4, 6-0 at the hands of Eshan Talluri of Texas.
Both of the Rebels' doubles matches to open up play on Sunday would result in losses for the pairings of Lithén/Engelhardt and Stearns/Whitwell. Lithén and Engelhardt's match ended with the duo falling in a 7-6 tiebreaker while Stearns and Whitwell dropped their fixture 6-4.
After returning home from Nashville, the Rebels will have a little less than a week to prepare to head to the 2022 ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The tournament is set to run October 1-9, consisting of Pre-Qualifying (Oct. 1-2), Qualifying (Oct. 3-4) and Main Draws (Oct. 5-9) in both singles and doubles.
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.
| SUNDAY RESULTS |
Doubles
Casabon/Robb-Wilcox (Vanderbilt) def. Lithén/ No. 56 Engelhardt (Ole Miss) 7-6
Anselmo/No. 58 Mandlik (Oklahoma) def. Stearns/Whitwell (Ole Miss) 6-4
Singles
John Hallquist Lithén def. No. 91 Nate Bonetto (Florida) 6-7, 7-5, 6-4
Alejandro Moreno (Auburn) def. Lukas Engelhardt 6-4, 6-1
Eshan Talluri (Texas) def. Walker Stearns (Ole Miss) 6-4, 6-0
Gordon Whitwell (Ole Miss) def. Paul Wang (Vanderbilt) 6-1, 6-3
| 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
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