Men's Tennis Defeats LSU, 5-2

March 16, 1999

BATON ROUGE, La. - The No. 6 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men=s tennis team lost the doubles point, but came back to win five of the six singles in a tightly-contested match to defeat 20th-ranked LSU 5-2 Tuesday afternoon at the Dub Robinson Tennis Center. The Rebels improve to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the SEC.

LSU took the early 1-0 lead by winning two of the three doubles matches. It was only the third time this year that the Rebels have lost the doubles point. Tom Hand and Ed Rubin upset sixth-ranked James Shortall and Martin Sjoqvist 8-4 at No. 1 doubles. It marks their first loss in 14 matches. Michal Chmela and Anthony Mateljan defeated Vikrant Chadha and Anders Stenman 8-6 at No. 2 doubles to clinch the point.

In singles Ole Miss took a 2-1 lead as Shortall won at No.1 singles and Martin Selin won at No. 6 singles. Selin downed Mateljan 6-2, 6-3 and then Shortall defeated Chmela, the preseason No. 1 ranked player in the nation, 7-6(4), 6-4. LSU tied the match after Jonas Samuelsson held off Stenman 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 at No. 4 singles. Freshman Kristofer Stahlberg gave the Rebels a 3-2 lead as he came back to beat Jesse Smatt 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5 singles.

Vikrant Chadha came through for the Rebels, as he has before, rallying to defeat Ed Rubin 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 singles to clinch the win for the Ole Miss. Martin Sjoqvist wrapped things up with a 7-6(5), 7-6(7) win over Tom Hand at No. 2 singles. AThis was a solid team effort with everyone competing hard from top to bottom in the lineup,@ head coach Billy Chadwick said. AWe did a good job of staying focused and digging down deep in a hostile environment. This is a great win on the road and it=s nice to get three out of four to start the SEC season. The guys learned some things from the loss at Alabama and it showed. AThis makes the Florida match on Friday huge. They are currently leading the league and a win would put us in a tie for first.

The Rebels will host the 17th-ranked Florida Gators Friday at 2:00 p.m. at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.

#6 Ole Miss   5#20 LSU       2

SINGLES
#1 James Shortall (OM) def. Michal Chmela (LSU) 7-6(4), 6-4
#2 Martin Sjoqvist (OM) def. Tom Hand (LSU) 7-6(5), 7-6(7)
#3 Vikrant Chadha (OM) def. Ed Rubin (LSU) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
#4 Jonas Samuelsson (LSU) def. Anders Stenman (OM) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
#5 Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) def. Jesse Smatt (LSU) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
#6 Martin Selin (OM) def. Anthony Mateljan (LSU) 6-2, 6-3

DOUBLES
#1 Hand-Rubin (LSU) def. Shortall-Sjoqvist (OM) 8-4
#2 Chmela-Mateljan (LSU) def Chadha-Stenman (OM) 8-6
#3 Stahlberg-Selin (OM) vs. Samuelsson-Smatt (LSU) sus.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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