Ole Miss Men’s Tennis Earns NCAA Tournament Bid
OXFORD, Miss. (Ole Miss Athletics) — Ole Miss Men’s Tennis has earned their 26th consecutive trip to the postseason, when it was revealed on Monday during the NCAA’s Selection Show that the Rebels would head to Los Angeles for their 28th overall NCAA trip in program history.
This will be the fourth straight postseason Ole Miss has found itself in California for the first and second rounds. Last season, Ole Miss upset national No. 4 seed Stanford in Palo Alto to return to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2012.
The Rebels earned the three seed, and will join Western Athletic Conference Champions Grand Canyon, No. 23 Oklahoma State, and hosts No. 13 UCLA in the four-team first and second round setup.
Ole Miss will face the Cowboys in a rematch from this past February, when the Rebels down then-No. 20 OSU for their first ranked win of the 2019 campaign in a thrilling 4-3 upset.
“We’re excited to play in the NCAA Tournament again, and I think the team is excited about it. We’re definitely ready to go,” head coach Toby Hansson said. “It’s a new match with Oklahoma State. We’re familiar with them, but it’s a neutral site and we’ll be outside so things will be different. It’s an important match, so we have to do the important things and get the big points, and that will take us a long way.”
Ole Miss won seven of its final 10 contests during the spring and tallied four Top 25 victories, downing No. 16/ 18 Alabama on two separate occasions, and No. 22 Georgia in addition to the victory over OSU. The Rebs catapulted to as high as No. 25 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s rankings this season, and boasted multiple players on the singles and doubles rankings lists.
Ole Miss is led by two-time All-SEC selection Tim Sandkaulen, and former NCAA participants in seniors Fabian Fallert and Filip Kraljevic. Fallert was critical this season, clinching six wins including the victory against Oklahoma State, earning SEC Player of the Week plaudits for his performance.
The first and second rounds of the 2019 NCAA Tournament take place May 3-4. Times have yet to be announced.
Leave a Reply