Rebel Netters Defeat South Carolina

March 28, 1999

OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team won the doubles point, which prove to be huge as they defeated 11th-ranked South Carolina 4-2 Sunday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. The Rebels improve to 14-3 overall, 6-1 in the SEC and maintain sole possession of first place in the conference.

"This was a total team effort every second of the match," head coach Billy Chadwick said. AWe knew we needed to have the doubles because they have a strong singles lineup. I am proud of James for stepping up because I knew we would need one of the top three to win the match. Everybody did a great job of competing and staying in their matches."

The Rebels swept the doubles to take an early 1-0 lead in the match. Martin Selin and Kristofer Stahlberg downed Tomasz Wawrzyniak and Juan Gamboa 8-3 at No. 3 doubles and then Vikrant Chadha and Anders Stenman defeated Guillaume Legat and Olof Akesson 8-6 at No. 2 doubles for the point.

Ole Miss went up 3-0 as Selin beat Wawryzniak 6-1, 6-4 at No. 5 singles and then sophomore James Shortall beat Vladimir Pavicevic 7-6(3), 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Shortall was down 0-3 in the tiebreaker, but won seven straight points to take the first set, which propelled him to his 50th career victory.

South Carolina pulled to within 3-2 with wins at No. 3 and 4 singles. Legat defeated Chadha 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles and Akesson held off Stenman 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 at the No. 4 position.

That left Martin Sjoqvist on the court at No. 2 singles battling to split sets with the Gamecocks' Jerome Jourdon, while Stahlberg and South Carolina's Gamboa were in the third set on court six.

Stahlberg won the first set 6-3 and lost the second 6-3. The Rebel was down 1-3 and 0-40 before rallying to win five consecutive games for the clinching victory. Stahlberg and Selin improve to 22-3 at the bottom two positions and 11-3 in the SEC. Selin captured the deciding match in Friday's 4-3 win over Georgia.

With the win, Chadwick picked up his 250th career victory. He is now 250-156 in his 17th season at the helm of the men's tennis program.

"This weekend was huge for us in gaining the momentum in the race for the SEC Championship," Chadwick said. AWe would like to thank the crowds that came out and supported us. They were a big factor in us winning both matches. We are fortunate that all of the top teams in the league are having to come through Oxford."

The Rebels have won five in a row and nine of their last 10 as they hit the road for a pair of SEC matches. They will meet Kentucky, Thursday at 2:30 p.m,. and then on Saturday they travel to Nashville to face Vanderbilt at 10:00 a.m.

#14 OLE MISS 4 #11 South Carolina 2

SINGLES
#1 James Shortall (OM) def. Vladimir Pavicevic (USC) 7-6(3), 6-3
#2 Martin Sjoqvist (OM) vs. Jerome Jourdon (USC) 7-6(3) USC, 5-3 UM sus.
#3 Guillaume Legat (USC) def. Vikrant Chadha (OM) 6-3, 6-3
#4 Olof Akesson (USC) def. Anders Stenman (OM) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
#5 Martin Selin (OM) def. Tomasz Wawryzniak (USC) 6-1, 6-4
#6 Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) def. Juan Gamboa (USC) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

DOUBLES
#1 Shortall-Sjoqvist (OM) def. Pavicevic-Jourdon (USC) 9-8(6)
#2 Chadha-Stenman (OM) def. Legat-Akesson (USC) 8-6
#3 Selin-Stahlberg (OM) def. Wawryzniak-Gamboa (USC) 8-3

The University of Mississippi Athletics

#14 OLE MISS 4 #11 South Carolina 2

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