Ole Miss Men’s Tennis Faces Two Top-10 Opponents on the Road this Weekend

Rebels to Play at No. 1 Florida on Friday, at No. 7 South Carolina on Sunday

 

OXFORD, Miss. – No. 31 Ole Miss men’s tennis (11-5, 1-2 SEC) heads back on the road to face No. 1 Florida (11-2, 4-0 SEC) on Friday at 4 p.m. CT and at No. 7 South Carolina (13-4, 2-2 SEC) at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday.

 

Ole Miss faces a daunting task this weekend, competing at defending NCAA National Champion Florida in Gainesville and at South Carolina in Columbia. The Rebels are 9-1 at home and 1-2 on the road this season.

 

Split Decision

 

The Rebels return to competition after earning a win and a loss in their previous two matches. Ole Miss defeated Alabama 6-1 in Tuscaloosa last Friday prior to falling at No. 50 LSU, 5-2, last Sunday.

 

Ole Miss improved to 9-0 versus non-ranked opponents this season. The Rebels have defeated the Crimson Tide twice this season after winning a non-conference match versus the SEC-West foe in January. The Rebels won doubles in both matches last weekend

 

ITA Refreshed

 

The Rebels’ top doubles duo of Lukas Engelhardt and Finn Reynolds are inching towards the top position after climbing from No. 6 to No. 2 in the national rankings. Reynolds ranked No. 1 in the country in doubles for the entirety of the 2021 regular and postseason.

 

Ole Miss placed two players in the singles rankings, Nikola Slavic at No. 21 and Jan Soren Hain at No. 104. The Rebels received the No. 20 national team ranking

 

The Rebels fell to No. 31 in the updated team rankings on Wednesday.

 

A Good Look at the Gators

 

Florida enters the weekend on a six-match win streak, all versus top-10 opponents (No. 1 Tennessee, No. 6 South Carolina, No. 7 Virginia, No. 8 Georgia and No. 9 Kentucky). The Gators are both 4-0 at home and 4-0 in the SEC this season.

 

Florida’s Ben Shelton ranks No. 1 in the nation in singles. He is followed by defending NCAA Singles Champion Sam Riffice at No. 56, No. 93 Andres Andrade, No. 109 Duarte Vale and No. 119 Nate Bonetto.

 

The Gators have three ranked doubles teams with Abdedallah Shelbayh and Mattias Siimar coming in at No. 33, followed by Siimar and Adrade at No. 54 and Adrade and Vale at No. 79.

 

Game for the Gamecocks

 

The 13-4 Gamecocks also upset No. 1 Tennessee last weekend, taking down the Volunteers 4-3 on March 11. South Carolina followed up their upset win with a narrow 4-3 defeat to No. 8 Gerorgia. The Gamecocks are 10-0 at home this season.

 

South Carolina is led in singles by No. 16 Daniel Rodrigues and No. 86 Toby Samuel. Rodrigues and Connor Thomson rank No. 30 in doubles as well.

 

Up Next

 

The Rebels return home next weekend to face two more SEC-East opponents. Ole Miss hosts Auburn on March 25 and duals Kentucky on March 27.

 

Live scoring and video can be accessed on the Ole Miss Athletics schedule page at:

https://olemisssports.com/sports/mens-tennis/schedule

 

For more information on Ole Miss Men’s Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook at OleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis, follow Coach Hansson on Twitter at @TennisToby.