Ole Miss Men's Tennis Opens NCAA Tournament In LA

For the 24th consecutive year, the Ole Miss men’s tennis team is one of 64 teams to begin the NCAA Championships this weekend in Los Angeles.

The Rebels will face UC Santa Barbara in the first round Friday at 12 p.m. CT from the Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts on the campus of UCLA. Army and UCLA will meet in the other first-round match. The winners of each match will battle in the second round, Saturday at 3 p.m. CT for a berth in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in Athens, Georgia.
Ole Miss enters the tournament as winners of eight of the last nine matches. The Rebels are led by junior All-American Gustav Hansson and sophomore Fabian Fallert, who both earned All-SEC honors last week.
UC Santa Barbara won the Big West Tournament Championship to earn the league’s automatic bid. They come into the NCAA Championships on a school-record, 12-match win streak, while their 19-5 record is a program best since 1988. Four of the team’s five losses have come against Top 10 opponents. The Gauchos are led by Morgan Mays, who owns a 14-10 dual match record, 7-6 at No. 1. He also teams with Simon Freund for a No. 35 ranking in doubles and a 13-4 record at No. 1. 
“It’s going to be a really tough match,” Ole Miss senior Ricardo Jorge said. “They’re all tough this time of year because every team in the NCAA can play. But, I feel like we’re in a good position. We’ve been playing the last half of the season and everybody is playing their best tennis right now.”
The No. 1 doubles match will feature two NCAA qualifiers in UCSB’s Simon Freund and Morgan Mays, ranked No. 35, against the Rebel duo of Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton, ranked No. 19. The No. 4 singles match will feature two players coming in with 11-match win streaks, as Fallert (18-3) faces Ander Holms of the Gauchos, who is 12-2.
This match will mark the second meeting between Ole Miss and UC Santa Barbara. The Rebels and Gauchos first met in the 1997 NCAA Sweet Sixteen at UCLA, with Ole Miss winning 4-0 on their way to the NCAA Final Four.

Adam Brown is the sports editor for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
Information courtesy of Ole Miss Sports Information
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