Men's Tennis Advances to NCAA Semifinals

May 23, 1999

ATHENS, GA. - On the seventh match point of a second set tie breaker Illinois' Jakub Teply double faulted to give the Rebels' Martin Selin a 7-5, 7-6 (8) victory and send Ole Miss into the semifinals of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships.

"I played pretty solid," Selin said of his victory. "He's (Teply) hard to play, so I had to stay aggressive all the time. We lost to them early this season and we knew they were a good team. I think we did a good job against them."

The match was delayed during doubles play when rain forced the match indoors at the Lindsey Hopkins Courts. Vikrant Chadha and Anders Stenman clinched the double point for Ole Miss with an 8-4 victory over Jeff Laski and Jamal Palmer.

The Rebels took a 2-0 lead after Chadha defeated Gavin Sontag 6-2, 6-2 on court four in singles.

The Fighting Illini roared back to take a 3-2 lead after claiming victories on courts one, two and three. Oliver Freelove beat James Shortall 6-3, 6-4 on court one for Illinois first point, while Cary Franklin defeated Martin Sjoqvist 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on court two to tie the score at 2-2.

Laski gave Illinois the lead with a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 win over Stenman on court three.

Kristofer Stahlberg pulled the Rebels even at 3-3 with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Matt Snyder on court six to set up Selin's dramatic victory on court five.

Ole Miss will play the winner of the Georgia-Baylor match at 5 p.m. EST on Monday for the right to advance to the finals.

Ole Miss is 1-1 all-time in NCAA semifinal matches. The Rebels advanced to the finals in 1995 after beating Georgia 4-3, and lost to Stanford 4-2 in 1997.

Ole Miss 4, Illinois 3

Singles:

1. Oliver Freelove (Ill.) def. James Shortall (UM)       6-3, 6-42. Cary Franklin (Ill.) def. Martin Sjoqvist (UM)   3-6, 6-2, 6-23. Jeff Laski (Ill.) def. Anders Stenman (UM)       6-2, 2-6, 7-54. Vikrant Chadha (UM) def. Gavin Sontag (Ill.)          6-2, 6-25. Martin Selin (UM) def. Jakub Teply (Ill.)             7-5, 7-6 (8)6. Kristofer Stahlber (UM) def. Matt Snyder (Ill.)       6-3, 6-0

Doubles:

1. Franklin/Freelove (Ill.) vs. Shortall/Sjoqvist (UM)  suspended2. Chadha/Stenman (UM) def. Laski/Palmer (Ill.)               8-43. Selin/Stahlberg (UM) def. Snyder/Teply (Ill.)              8-3

The University of Mississippi Athletics

Ole Miss 4, Illinois 3

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