The Rebels Netters went down 4-2 to Mississippi State yesterday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center at Ole Miss.
The Rebels got off to a great start by winning the doubles point. Junior Nik Scholtz and freshman Ricardo Jorge closed out the first victory with an 8-4 decision on court 2, and then a tiebreaker decided the last two doubles matches.
First, sophomore Stefan Lindmark and junior William Kallberg lost to Malte Stropp and Jordan Angus of Mississippi State. The point came down to senior Johan Backstrom and sophomore Joe Rogers, and they won 8-7 (7-1) in the tiebreaker to give the Rebels the early 1-0 lead.
Singles play began with less fortune than doubles. Kallberg lost his match 1-6, 0-6 on court 2 against Stropp; Kallberg is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered last week. Backstrom then dominated his match and won 6-1, 6-0 on court 4, and the win gave the Rebels a 2-1 lead in the overall match.
Losses by Jorge, Lindmark, and redshirt freshman Vinod Gowda ultimately gave the Bulldogs the victory.
“That was a tough one. The guys fought really hard,” head coach Billy Chadwick said. “Really did a good job getting the doubles point.”
Nik Scholtz never got to finish his match against Florian Lakat. The overall match decision arrived before the conclusion of Scholtz’s match, but he was leading 6-3, 2-6, 5-4 when it ended.
“There was no doubt that Nik was going to win that match,” Chadwick said. “Nik was going to serve it out, and the other guy did a really good job of playing well on the match points that Nik had, but Nik was going to win that match.”
The match came down to Gowda, who fell 7-6, 4-6, 1-6 after leading in the second set 4-2.
“It would’ve been good to see Vinod challenge the guy more, especially in the beginning of the third set,” Chadwick said. “It’s disappointing when you’re up and you don’t close it out, but that’s when you’ve really got to be tough.”
The Rebels now have a week of preparation before traveling to Columbia, S.C., on Friday to take on the Gamecocks.
— Dylan Rubino
djrubino@go.olemiss.edu
