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No. 25 Men’s Tennis Hits the Road for Regular Season Finale
4/12/2023 | Men's Tennis
Rebels Prepare to Meet Two Top 10 Teams on Their Home Courts
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NO. 25 OLE MISS (16-6, 6-4 SEC) at No. 8 Tennessee (18-6, 8-2 SEC) Thursday, Apr. 13 • 3 p.m. CT • Knoxville, Tenn. Barksdale Stadium at No. 4 Georgia (16-5, 10-0 SEC) Saturday, Apr. 15 • 12 p.m. CT • Athens, Ga. Magill Tennis Complex |
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 25 Ole Miss men's team wraps up its regular season this week with a pair of road matches, as the Rebels hit the road to take on No. 8 Tennessee and No. 4 Georgia.
The Rebels (16-6, 6-4 SEC) currently ride a three-match win streak with all three victories coming against ranked opponents. The team will first face off against the No. 8 Volunteers (18-6, 8-2 SEC) on Thursday, April 13 at 3 p.m. CT. Ole Miss will then wrap up the regular season in Athens on Saturday, April 15 against the No. 4 Bulldogs (16-5, 10-0 SEC). That match is set to start at 12 p.m. CT.
Live scoring and live video for both matches will be available to the public. Links to both can be found above as well as on the Ole Miss men's tennis schedule page.
Rebels in the Rankings
For the first time in over a year, the Rebels made their way back into the Top 25 of the ITA Team Rankings after earning the team's third consecutive ranked win on Sunday, slotting into the No. 25 position. Head coach Toby Hansson now increases his streak to nine straight seasons that he has led the Rebels to a Top 25 ranking, spanning across his entire career at the helm of Ole Miss men's tennis. Senior Nikola Slavic also continued his streak of remaining in the ITA Singles Rankings, as the Stockholm, Sweden, native moved into the No. 65 position nationally. He and fellow senior Lukas Engelhardt also moved up in the latest ITA Doubles Rankings, with the Rebel duo coming in as the No. 46 doubles team in the country.
The Perfect Senior Sendoff
Rebel senior Simon Junk was the lone Rebel honored in the team's Senior Day match against No. 21 Texas A&M on Sunday. Junk has spent the past five years battling on the tennis court for the Rebels, currently ranking in the Top 20 in program history in both singles and doubles victories over his career. The Marpingen, Germany, native capped off his time at Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center with one last memorable moment notched into his belt, as the senior battled through three sets against No. 121 Pierce Rollins to ultimately clinch the upset victory for the Rebels one last time in front of his home fans. The ranked singles win marks Junk's first of the season, as well as just the third ranked singles win of his career. "I appreciate the guys fighting so hard. I wouldn't have been able to do it without them today. All of the guys battling, whether they won or lost, we all just kept fighting. To even be in the position to clinch today was all thanks to them. It was a special day for me for sure."
More Than Meets the Isac
Freshman Isac Strömberg came up big for the Rebels over the past weekend, helping to earn hard-fought 4-3 victories in the team's matches against Alabama and Texas A&M. Strömberg first made his difference in the Alabama match, coming back from a set down in his match against Zach Foster to clinch the final point in the Rebels' 4-3 win over the Crimson Tide. Strömberg becomes just the fifth Rebel freshman to reach 10+ dual singles wins during his rookie campaign in the last 10 years, joining the likes of John Hallquist Lithen (2021), Nikola Slavic (2020), Simon Junk (2019) and Gustav Hansson (2015). The Stockholm, Sweden, native then followed up this performance by teaming up with Lukas Engelhardt to clinch what was a decisive doubles point that proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win over Texas A&M on Sunday. The Rebel duo battled their way through a 6-6 breaker to claim the win, taking their tiebreaker 7-4.
The Oxford Advantage
The Rebels wrapped up what was an unbelievable season at home on Sunday with the team's 4-3 victory over No. 21 Texas A&M, marking the Rebels' 13th home win of the 2022-23 season. Finishing with a record of 13-3 across their 16 matches hosted at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center and William F. Galtney Tennis Center, that number of home wins for the Rebels stands as the most home victories for an Ole Miss men's tennis team since the 2006-07 season. The Rebels went on to finish a perfect 14-0 in Oxford that year, just beating out this year's Rebel team.
Court 1 Dream Team
Nikola Slavic and Lukas Engelhardt have been on a tear for the Rebels in the No. 1 doubles position, earning a 9-3 record when playing together in Court 1 doubles this year. With an overall record of 15-7 in 2022-23, the senior duo has yet to drop a ranked doubles matchup this season, going 3-0 to help the Ole Miss tandem slide into the No. 46 position in the latest ITA Doubles Rankings. While the pair will likely split up this weekend, the duo will still continue to pose a threat for the Rebels moving forward in the SEC season on their respective doubles courts.
A Historic Streak for the Rebels
Prior to the Rebels' loss to the Florida Gators earlier in the season, the team saw itself on a historic win streak, having won their previous nine straight dual matches. The streak stands as the longest streak for the Rebel squad since the 2008-09 season, in which Ole Miss strung together an unbelievable 20-match win streak enroute to finishing 10-0 in SEC play, claiming both the SEC regular season and SEC tournament titles. That Rebel team's season would come to a close with a loss in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, ending the year with a 27-3 record overall on the year.
The Season: Coming Soon
Later this month, fans will have the opportunity to relive the team's thrilling 6-1 victory over the LSU from two weeks ago, as The Season is set to air an episode on the Ole Miss men's tennis team and their match against the Tigers. Beyond watching the ranked Rebel victory, fans will have the opportunity to see Ole Miss men's tennis off the court as the team volunteers in the community, has a team meal, and hosts the annual Rebel Kids Clinic. The episode will premiere later this April, with an official release date yet to be announced.
Team Profile: Tennessee
The Tennessee Volunteers (18-6, 8-2 SEC) enter their match against the Rebels ranked as the No. 8 team in the country, riding a six-match win streak into Thursday's tie with Ole Miss. The Volunteers have been on a tear in SEC play as of late, taking down four straight Top 25 opponents in No. 12 Mississippi State, No. 4 Kentucky, No. 20 Florida and No. 5 South Carolina. UT's squad is headlined by Johannus Monday, who sits ranked as the No. 2 singles player in the nation with a record of 16-2 on the year. The Volunteer lineup will also feature Emile Hudd, who comes off of a week in which he took home SEC Player of the Week honors along with moving up into the No. 27 spot in the ITA Singles Rankings.
Team Profile: Georgia
The No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs (16-5, 10-0 SEC) host the Rebels in what will be the team's final regular season match of the season on Sunday. The Bulldogs have been unbeatable in SEC thus far, going a perfect 10-0 with two matches left on their schedule, along with winning their previous 11 matchups this year. Freshman Ethan Quinn has led the UGA side on this tear, as he currently sits as the No. 3 singles player in the nation with a record of 21-10 on the year. Quinn has only suffered one loss in conference play this year at the hands of Tennessee's Johannus Monday, and also sits as a member of the No. 5 doubles team in the country alongside teammate Trent Bryde. Quinn and Bryde have captured a total of eight ranked wins as a doubles team this year, with all of the pair's matches coming in the team's No. 1 doubles position.
Follow the Rebels on Social
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.
