University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
#10 Ole Miss
Vols Fall to Ole Miss, 6-1
March 08, 2009 | Men's Tennis
March 8, 2009
The 10th-ranked Ole Miss tennis team knocked off a top-five opponent for the second straight match Sunday, defeating fifth-ranked Tennessee, 6-1 at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
"We didn't play very well today and we paid for it against a very good team," head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "We need to turn around from this, learn from it, and get ready for some great tennis matches at home next weekend."
UT sophomore Matteo Fago provided UT's only point of the day. The Italy native knocked off 97th-ranked Bram ten Berge, 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 4 position in the singles lineup. Fago has been unbeatable in regular season SEC dual-matches. He is now 13-0 in SEC regular season play.
Ole Miss (10-2, 2-0 SEC) used victories at the No. 1 and 3 position in doubles to take a 1-0 lead. Fago and Christopher Williams playing together in a dual-match for the first time fell to Kalle Norberg and Otto Sauer at the No. 3 position. The battle at No. 1 featured two top-10 duos with Ole Miss' Jonas Berg and ten Berge, ranked fifth, knocking off UT's Davey Sandgren and John-Patrick Smith, ranked ninth, 9-7 to clinch the point.
Sauer put the Rebels up 2-0 with a straight-set win over Christian Hansen at the No. 5 position, 6-3, 6-2. Hansen clinched UT's win over Mississippi State on Friday with a hard-fought three set victory but could never get on track Sunday against Ole Miss.
Berg gave Ole Miss a 3-0 lead with a win at the No. 1 position over UT's Smith, 6-3, 6-2. Smith had won 10-of-12 matches coming into Sunday's match.
Marcel Thiemann clinched the win for Ole Miss with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Matt Brewer at the No. 6 spot. Brewer is 4-3 this season in the dual-match lineup.
Norberg won at the No. 2 position over UT's Boris Conkic, 6-3, 6-3. Conkic, ranked 38th in the nation, has been battling an illness and did not play in Friday's SEC opener at Mississippi State.
The Rebels scored their final point when Devin Britton won a three-set match over Sandgren at the No. 3 spot. Sandgren won the first but the 32nd-ranked Rebel won the final two sets to take the match.
The Vols (8-3, 1-1 SEC) return to action March 13 when they host South Carolina. The 31st-ranked Gamecocks (12-1, 2-0 SEC) knocked off 11th-ranked Kentucky Sunday and are off to their first 2-0 start in SEC play since 2005. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET and is free to the public. Live scoring for those that cannot attend can be found at UTsports.com.
| No. 10 Ole Miss 6, No. 5 Tennessee 1 | |
| Singles | |
| 1. No. 35 Jonas Berg (UM) def. No. 10 John-Patrick Smith (UT) | 6-3, 6-2 |
| 2. No. 52 Kalle Norberg (UM) def. No. 38 Boris Conkic (UT) | 6-3, 6-3 |
| 3. No. 32 Devin Britton (UM) def. Davey Sandgren (UT) | 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 |
| 4. Matteo Fago (UT) def. No. 97 Bram ten Berge (UM) | 7-5, 6-3 |
| 5. Otto Sauer (UM) def. Christian Hansen (UT) | 6-3, 6-2 |
| 6. Marcel Thiemann (UM) def. Matt Brewer (UT) | 6-4, 6-2* |
| Order of Finish: 5,1,4,6,2,3 | |
| Doubles | |
| 1. No. 5 Berg/ten Berge (UM) def. No. 9 Sandgren/Smith (UT) | 9-7 |
| 2. Britton/Vorster (UM) led Conkic/Tweedt (UT) | 7-3 |
| 3. Norberg/Sauer (UM) def. Fago/Williams (UT) | 8-0 |
| Order of Finish: 3,1 | |
Players Mentioned
