Owen PustellSome things are inevitable: Death, taxes and Ole Miss beating Mississippi State. On Sunday, the Rebels Men’s Tennis team went down to Starkville and upset the Bulldogs in a dominant fashion.
The Rebels took five of the seven games played, despite being the lower-ranked team. The heavyweight match of the afternoon was No. 36 Nikola Slavic taking on No. 39 Florian Broska of Mississippi State. Slavic came out on top in a match that lasted just three games.
The Rebels nearly swept all six singles matches, except for Gregor Ramskogler defeating Lukas Engelhardt in two games. The other Mississippi State victory came at the hands of Davide Tortora, who dominated Jakob Cadonau in two sets (and a total score of 12-3).
Ole Miss secured the doubles point despite losing the first doubles match as Broska and Ramskogler defeated Lukas Englehardt and Finn Reynolds 7-5. The second and third doubles match both ended in the Rebels’ favor as Jan Soren Hain and Simon Funk beat Carles Hernandez and Nemanja Malesevic in a close match that ended 7-6.
In the final doubles window, John Hallquist Lithen and Slavic defeated Alberto Colas and Tortora. Despite his loss in doubles, No. 110 Reynolds bounced back and swept No. 72 Malesevic in two games (7-5, 6-2) to secure the Rebels another upset victory. The Rebels have been having a rough season so far, going 12-10 overall but just 2-7 in the conference. This win was much needed for a later-season morale boost as Ole Miss had lost its last six straight (all SEC matchups) before the trouncing of the in-state rival Bulldogs.
The Rebels hold the burden of playing in the SEC, which houses four of the top 15 programs in the nation. Next up, the Rebels will face Texas A&M in College Station as they get ready for the final stretch of the season before the SEC tournament and hopefully the NCAA tournament.
The Rebels and Aggies last met in mid-February, with Ole Miss coming out on top four games to two. This matchup will be tough, however, as Texas A&M has won five of their eight SEC matchups and are an astounding 14-4 at home. The Aggies are coming off a loss to Auburn, who are ranked 28th in the nation but have won three of their last four. Realistically, Ole Miss needs to win out and make a run in the SEC tournament if they want good seeding in the national tournament.
