SATURDAY: OLE MISS 4, NC STATE 0
The No. 13-ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team advanced to ITA National Team Indoor Final 16 in Seattle (Feb. 15-18) with a 4-0 win against No. 41 North Carolina State in the final round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Saturday at the Gillom Sports Center. It marks the Rebels’ 18th trip to the Final 16 and first since 2010.
“I felt like we were at our best in both doubles and singles,” head coach Billy Chadwick said. “This is a very good North Carolina State team. We were able to take advantage of playing at home, and so it’s great to be heading to the final 16.”
Thomas Graning | The Daily Mississippian
Senior Jonas Lutjen
The Rebels (2-0) quickly went ahead with early breaks in doubles play. Junior Johan Backstrom and freshman Stefan Lindmark won 8-3 at No. 3 doubles, then the No. 43-ranked tandem of sophomore Nik Scholtz and senior Jonas Lutjen clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 win at No. 1 doubles.
Lutjen, ranked No. 5 in the nation, was first off the court with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles. Moments later, Scholtz, ranked No. 33 in the nation, gave Ole Miss a 3-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles.
Sophomore William Kallberg, ranked No. 95 in the nation, broke serve in a long sixth game to go up 5-1 in the second set and served out the match to win 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3 singles to clinch the match for the Rebels.
“When he went up 5-1, that was the match,” Chadwick said. “Instead of 5-1, it’s 4-2 and then the guy gets lucky and breaks serve, and the next thing you know, we’re playing all these matches to get a point. I’ve seen it many, many times where you get a team on the ropes, and when you get them on the ropes, you got to put them away.”
Ole Miss returns to action on Feb. 7 for the annual River Hills Mississippi Cup in Jackson against No. 11 Mississippi State.
FRIDAY: OLE MISS 4, COLUMBIA 1
The No. 13 Ole Miss men’s tennis team hosted No. 44 Columbia University Friday afternoon in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off, with the Rebels coming away with a 4-1 victory over the Lions.
“This was a very, very good Columbia team, and we knew that coming in,” Chadwick said. “You’ve got a team that’s in the Ivy League, that’s got that high of a ranking, and a lot of times they don’t get to play the teams we play throughout the season. That shows they win most of their matches.”
In doubles play, sophomore Nik Scholtz and senior Jonas Lutjen breezed through their match at No. 1 doubles, winning by the score of 8-4. In No. 2 doubles, sophomore William Kallberg and senior Adrian Forberg Skogeng were locked in a tight match with Columbia’s Winston Lin and Nathaniel Gery. The two teams traded games until the Rebels grabbed control and won 8-5, which gave Ole Miss the doubles point.
The Rebels started off hot in singles play. Kallberg took care of an animated Dragos Ignat at No. 3 singles (6-2, 6-4) to give Ole Miss a 2-0 lead. At No. 1 and 2 singles, All-Americans Scholtz and Lutjen needed three sets to win their respective matches.
Thomas Graning | The Daily Mississippian
Senior Jonas Lutjen
Scholtz lost the first set to Lin 6-4, and he fought to bring the second set into a tiebreaker where he won 7-6(1). Then he made quick work of Lin in the third, 6-2, to claim the third point for the Rebels.
“Nik didn’t play as well as he’s capable of playing, but a lot of that had to do with his opponent,” Chadwick said. “He was putting a lot of pressure on Nik because he was making no errors. Nik actually picked it up and started creating the action.”
In Lutjen’s match with Ashok Narayana, Lutjen served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Narayana battled back and eventually claimed the set (7-5) to send it to the third. With his fellow Rebel teammates cheering him on, Lutjen easily won the third set 6-1 to claim the victory.
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