Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams had seniors leave impressive marks on the program in their final season in Oxford this year.
On the men’s team, Nik Scholtz had a great season, capped by finishing No. 19 in singles in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Individual Rankings as well as being named an All-American. Scholtz was an All-American each of his three previous years at Ole Miss, making him the very first four-time All-American in Ole Miss program history. Scholtz had 11 wins against nationally ranked players and five wins against players ranked in the final top 20 in his historic season. Scholtz finished with a 16-6 record and was All-SEC first team all four years at Ole Miss, another program first.
Meanwhile, for the women’s team, Julia Jones finished her outstanding season at no. 12 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Singles Rankings and won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s National Most improved Player Award. Her excellent senior season in which she went 30-11 and 18-10 in nationally ranked matches also netted her All-American honors, as well as All-SEC honors for the third time in her career. Jones notched 103 total wins in her career.
Overall, the women’s tennis team finished 16-11 with a ranking of No. 24 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Team Rankings. As for the men, they finished 18-9 and No. 17 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association team rankings, and received their 22nd consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. It was Toby Hansson’s first year taking over for legendary coach Billy Chadwick as the head coach for the program, and Hansson was able to finish with 8-4 record in the SEC. Ole Miss was one of just 15 schools in the country to have both its men’s and women’s teams ranked in the top 25 at the end of the year.
There is plenty of hope for the future of the teams since both the men’s and women’s squads return starters. The men’s team returns rising senior Stefan Lindmark, who went 8-0 in the SEC in route to earning All-SEC first team honors and becoming the fifth player in Ole Miss history to go undefeated in the SEC. Lindmark, who is originally from Stockholm, Sweden, defeated four nationally ranked players and finished the season ranked No. 86 in the nation in singles. The team also returns Gustav Hansson, who was named to the SEC All-Freshman team and All-SEC second team in his stellar first year in the program.
For the women’s team, Ole Miss returns stellar freshman Arianne Hartono, who was named to the SEC All-Freshman team despite missing her last five SEC games due to injury. Hartono went 18-9 overall, 5-3 in the SEC and defeated three nationally ranked players during the season, finishing the season ranked No. 82 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Singles Ranking. Mai El Kamash is also set to return for the Rebels, after having a 24-15 overall record her junior season, which was good for the second most wins on the team. Mai El Kamash should provide some senior leadership to the team next season after being a steady contributor in each of her three previous years.
