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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Netters Defeat Middle Tennessee State 6-1
6/21/1999 | Men's Tennis
February 6, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. - The No. 4 nationally-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team came back from losing the doubles point to down Middle Tennessee State 6-1, Saturday afternoon at the Women's Sports Complex. The Rebels improve to 3-0 on the season, while MTSU drops to 1-1.
Middle Tennessee State won the doubles point in three tightly-contested matches. Rebels' Martin Sjoqvist and James Shortall defeated Robert Gustafsson and Michael Chamberlain 8-6 and then MTSU's Matt Walker and Olle Nystrom beat Anders Stenman and Vikrant Chada 9-7 at the No. 2 spot. At No. 3 doubles the Blue Raiders Mark Pellerin and Mehdi Belbacha won the tiebreaker, 9-8(4) over Martin Selin and Kristoffer Stahlberg to clinch the point for Middle Tennessee.
In singles, the Rebels took control early with wins at No. 2 and 3 singles. Selin downed Oliver Foreman 6-2, 6-3 at the third spot and then Stenman defeated Gustafsson 6-4, 6-4 to give Ole Miss a 2-1 lead.
Sjoqvist handled Belbacha 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4 singles as the Rebels went up 3-1, and then freshman, Stahlberg clinched the win for Ole Miss, cruising to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Pellerin at No. 5 singles.
The closest match of the day, came at No. 1 singles, where MTSU's Walker gave Ole Miss' Shortall all he wanted. Shortall had to rally to defeat Walker 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-4. He has won eight of his last nine matches and improves to 24-5 on the season. Memphis native Ben Cousins won his third in a row, defeating Nystrom 7-5, 3-6, 7-2. The third set was played as a tiebreaker.
The Rebels will host Arkansas-Little Rock Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. at the Women's Sports Complex before meeting Mississippi State for the second annual River Hills Mississippi Cup in Jackson on Thursday.
#4 OLE MISS 6Middle Tennessee 1SINGLES
#1 James Shortall (OM) def. Matt Walker (MTSU) 6-7(2) 7-5, 6-4#2 Anders Stenman (OM) def. Robert Gustafsson (MTSU) 6-4, 6-4#3 Martin Selin (OM) def. Oliver Foreman (MTSU) 6-2, 6-3#4 Martin Sjoqvist (OM) def. Mehdi Belbacha (MTSU) 6-2, 6-1#5 Kristoffer Stahlberg (OM) def. Mark Pellerin (MTSU) 6-3, 6-2#6 Ben Cousins (OM) def. Olle Nystrom (MTSU) 7-5, 6-3, 7-2(tiebreaker)DOUBLES
#1 Sjoqvist-Shortall (OM) def. Gustafsson-Chamberlain (MTSU) 8-6#2 Walker-Nystrom (MTSU) def. Stenman-Chada (OM) 9-7#3 Pellerin-Belbacha (MTSU) def. Selin-Stahlberg (OM) 9-8(4)