Rebel Netters Hold off South Florida

March 21, 1999

OXFORD, Miss. - The sixth-ranked Ole Miss men's tennis team lost the doubles point but came back to win all six singles matches to hold off 41st-ranked South Florida 6-1 Sunday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. The Rebels improve to 12-3 on the season.

South Florida appeared to have the edge when they took the doubles point with a wins at No. 1 and 2 doubles. Steve Capriati and Boris Babic defeated Vikrant Chadha and Anders Stenman 8-4 at No. 2 doubles and then Martin Selin and Kristofer Stahlberg beat Silviu Nistor and Eric Gildhorn 8-6 at No. 3 doubles. Fabio Tintori and Matt Guyaux knocked off the Rebel duo of James Shortall and Martin Sjoqvist 9-7 at No. 1 doubles to clinch the point.

Ole Miss regained the momentum winning the first set in five of the six singles matches. Selin downed Aleks Popovic 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 singles to even the match, and then Stenman defeated Babic 6-3, 7-6(6) at No. 4 singles as Ole Miss went up 2-1.

Sjoqvist fought back from a 5-3 deficit in the first set to win 7-6(3), 6-4 over Guyuax at No. 2 singles. With the three remaining matches in the third sets, the Rebels' Stahlberg clinched the victory by coming back to beat Nistor 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles.

AWe knew it was going to take a great effort to beat this team, especially after the Florida match,@ head coach Billy Chadwick said. ASometimes you can have a letdown after a big win like the one on Friday. We did a good job of coming back after the doubles to win the first sets in five of the six singles matches. This gives us momentum heading into the Georgia match.

At No. 1 singles, Shortall held off USF's Tintori 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to win his 30th match of the year. He needs just one more win to reach 50 victories for his career. Chadha won a thrilling third-set tiebreaker against Capriati at No. 3 singles to take a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4) victory.

The Rebels will continue their four-match homestand with two key SEC matches this weekend. On Friday the Rebels host No. 5 Georgia and then on Sunday they welcome 11th-ranked South Carolina.

#6 OLE MISS 6 #41 South Florida 1

SINGLES
#1 James Shortall (OM) def. Fabio Tintori (USF) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
#2 Martin Sjoqvist (OM) def. Matt Guyuax (USF) 7-6(3), 6-4
#3 Vikrant Chadha (OM) def. Steve Capriati (USF) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4)
#4 Anders Stenman (OM) def. Boris Babic (USF) 6-3, 7-6(6)
#5 Martin Selin (OM) def. Aleks Popovic (USF) 6-2, 6-1
#6 Kristofer Stahlberg (OM) def. Silviu Nistor (USF) 5-7, 6-1, 6-0

DOUBLES
#1 Tintori-Guyuax (USF) def. Shortall-Sjoqvist (OM) 9-7
#2 Capriati-Babic (USF) def. Chadha-Stenman (OM) 8-4
#3 Selin-Stahlberg (OM) def. Nistor-Eric Gildhorn (USF) 8-6

The University of Mississippi Athletics

#6 OLE MISS 6 #41 South Florida 1

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