Men's Tennis Drops Heartbreaker to Tennessee, 4-3

April 16, 1999

OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 4 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team battled hard against 12th-ranked Tennessee Friday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center in their final home match of the season, but came up short losing 4-3. The Rebels slip to 17-4 overall, 9-2 in the SEC.

Despite the loss, the Rebels still win the SEC regular season as a result of their win over Florida, who is currently 8-2 in the league with one match to play. The Rebels are the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament which begins next Thursday in Gainesville.

Tennessee got the early lead by winning the doubles point. Peter Handoya and Chad Copenhaver defeated Rebel freshmen Martin Selin and Kristofer Stahlberg 8-4 at No. 3 doubles and then Mark Fitzpatrick and Mark Way beat Vikrant Chadha and Anders Stenman 8-5 to clinch the point.

The Volunteers took a 2-0 lead after Mark Parsons downed Rebel James Shortall 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, but Ole Miss' Martin Sjoqvist put the Rebels on board with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win over Way at the third spot.

Selin evened the match by dominating Copenhaver 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 singles, but Tennessee answered with a 6-1, 6-3 win at the No. 6 position as Adam Carey handed Stahlberg his first loss in nine matches to give the Vols a 3-2 lead.

On court four, Ole Miss' Stenman tied the match defeating the Vols' Fitzpatrick 7-5, 6-0, while Chadha and Handoya were battling in the second set on court two.

Chadha was down 5-1 in the first set, stormed back to force a tiebreaker in which he led 4-0, before seeing Handoya come back and win 7-5 for the first set. The Rebel had a break in the second set but couldn't hold it and at 4-4, Handoya won the final two games to clinch the victory for Tennessee.

"We got outplayed in doubles," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "They are very good in doubles especially at No. 2 and 3. We put ourselves in a position to beat them, but came up just a little short. If Vikrant gets the first set, then its a different match. Martin Sjoqvist played a great match and Stenman played good. Stahlberg is not going to win every match."

The Rebels had won six in a row over the Volunteers coming into the match. All four of the Rebels' losses have been by the same score of 4-3 with all four opponents ranked in the Top 25. The Vols ended the Rebels 13 match winning streak at home.

Ole Miss will meet the winner of the No. 8/9 match in the second round of the SEC Tournament, Friday at 8:00 a.m. at Scott Linder Stadium. The pairings for the SEC Tournament will be determined following the completion of Sunday's matches.

#12 Tennessee 4, #4 OLE MISS 3

SINGLES

#1 Mark Parsons (UT) def. James Shortall (OM)      6-2, 6-2#2 Peter Handoya (UT) def. Vikrant Chadha (OM)     7-6(5), 6-4#3 Martin Sjoqvist (OM) def. Mark Way (UT)         6-3, 6-2#4 Anders Stenman (OM) def. Mark Fitzpatrick (UT)  7-5, 6-0#5 Martin Selin (OM) def. Chad Copenhaver (UT)     6-2, 6-2#6 Adam Carey (UT) def. Kristofer Stahlberg (OM)   6-1, 6-3

DOUBLES

#1 Shortall-Sjoqvist (OM) def. Parsons-Carey (UT)    9-8(2)#2 Fitzpatrick-Way (UT) def. Chadha-Stenman (OM)     8-5#3 Handoya-Copenhaver (UT) def. Selin-Stahlberg (OM) 8-4

The University of Mississippi Athletics

#12 Tennessee 4, #4 OLE MISS 3

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