Riley ComdenThe Ole Miss men’s tennis team started their 2020-2021 fall season out strong at the Auburn invitational last week, walking away from the weekend with an overall team record of 5-4 in singles and 4-2 in doubles. Ole Miss was one of five teams at the invitational including the Auburn Tigers, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Florida Gators and the Vanderbilt Commodores. This was the team’s first of three fall matches since last competing at the University of Tennessee on March 8.
- Auburn
In the doubles match on Friday, Jan Soren Hain and Cotter Wilson, paired for the first time together for Ole Miss and lost to the Auburn Tigers’ Tim Dollman and Spencer Gray 8-3. Wilson then went on to beat Auburn’s Diego Chavarri 6-1, 6-4 in singles to bring home the first win of the season for Ole Miss.
Then on Saturday, Brady Draheim and Tim Sandkaulen lost 9-7 to Auburn’s Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett in a hard-fought doubles match. In singles, Sandkaulen beat the Tigers’ Tyler Stice in the first tiebreaker of the season for Ole Miss, 7-6(2), 7-6(5).
- Alabama
Additionally, the Ole Miss team played and won three matches against the Tide on the first day of the invitational. Draheim and Sandkaulen, both ITA All-Americans for Ole Miss, played Alabama’s Edson Ortiz and Marcelo Sepulveda Garza in a doubles match, winning 8-2. Draheim followed suit, defeating the Tide’s Alexey Nesterov 6-4, 6-2 in singles. Sandkaulen kept the winning streak going for Ole Miss, beating Ortiz in singles 6-4, 7-5.
In the only Ole Miss vs. Alabama match on Saturday, Wilson conquered Sam Fischer 6-1, 6-0
from the Tide, and then in the final faceoff on Sunday, Draheim faced Avi Shugar from the Crimson Tide in singles and lost 6-4, 6-1.
- Vanderbilt
Hain and Wilson walked away from the match successful after defeating Vanderbilt’s James Ignatowich and Joubert Klopper 8-6 in doubles on Saturday. However, later that day, Draheim fell in a three-set single’s match 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to Ignatowich from the Commodores.
- Florida
The first Ole Miss and Florida matchup was in a doubles match on Sunday. Draheim and Sandkaulen defeated the Gators’ Ben Shelton and Duarte Vale by a score of 6-8. Sandkaulen then faced Andy Andrade from the Gators’ in a singles match that day and lost 6-4, 6-4.
- Vanderbilt
The only faceoffs between UM and Vanderbilt took place on Sunday. The Rebels’ Hain and Wilson took down the Commodores’ Marcus Ferreira and Macsen Sisam in a double match 8-4, improving their overall season record to 2-1. Wilson then went on to lose in singles to the impressive Vanderbilt freshman Jeremie Casabon, 6-4, 6-2.
Coming up
In just over two weeks, the Rebels will travel to Starkville on Oct. 23 for the weekend-long Mississippi State Fall Invitational.
