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BATON
ROUGE, La. – The No. 2 nationally
ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team
punched its ticket to the “Sweet
Sixteen” Saturday with a 4-2 win over
LSU in the second round of the NCAA
Championships here at the Dub Robinson
Stadium.
With the Rebels up 3-2,
freshman Devin Britton of Jackson,
Miss., finished off a comeback win over
LSU’s James Cluskey at No. 2 singles to
clinch the win. Britton lsot the first
set 6-4, but came on strong in the
second and third 6-1, 6-3 to clinch his
second straight big match for the
Rebels, after also clinching the SEC
Tournament Championship.
“Our guys knew how hard they
would have to work to beat LSU, and
that’s exactly what they did, top to
bottom just fighting everywhere,” head
coach Billy Chadwick said. “Devin has
that great ability to move it to another
gear, and that is what you saw. He
picked it up and handled it like a
senior. My hat’s off to Devin.”
The Rebels, who set the
school record for most wins in a season
(26-2) have now advanced to the round of
16 15 times, including five straight
years. LSU ends its season at 11-12.
When the two teams last met
in Baton Rouge during the regular
season, LSU took the opening point. This
time, the Rebels were ready and came out
strong in the doubles to go up 1-0.
Devin Britton and Tucker Vorster
defeated Sebastian Carlsson and Julien
Gauthier 8-4 at No. 2. In a battle
between the nation’s top two doubles
teams, LSU’s No. 2 ranked team of
Michael Venus and Neal Skupski beat No.
1 Jonas Berg and Bram ten Berge 8-5.
Kalle Norberg and Otto Sauer finished
off the point by topping Mark Bowtell
and James Cluskey 8-5 on court three for
their fifth win in a row. The Rebels
are now 21-1 this year when winning the
doubles point.
LSU evened the match when
Sebastian Carlsson defeated Otto Sauer
6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 singles. They took a
2-1 advantage when sixth-ranked Venus
defeated 16th-ranked Berg
6-1, 7-6 at the top spot.
Ole Miss answered with
consecutive wins from the freshmen twins
of Chris and Marcel Thiemann at the
bottom two courts. Chris won his match
over Cody Loup 6-4, 6-2 at six, and then
Marcel finished off LSU’s Bowtell 6-3,
6-3 at five to give the Rebels the 3-2
lead.
The Rebels will face the
winner of the Texas A&M/Arizona match
Thursday in the round of 16.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS SECOND ROUND –
BATON ROUGE, La.
DOUBLES
1. Venus/Skupski (LSU) def. Berg/ten
Berge (OM) 8-5
2. Britton/Tucker Vorster (OM) def.
Carlsson/Gauthier (LSU) 8-4
3. Norberg/Sauer (OM) def. Bowtell/Cluskey
(LSU) 8-5
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
SINGLES
1. Michael Venus (LSU) def. Jonas
Berg (OM) 6-1, 7-6
2. Devin Britton (OM) def. James Cluskey
(LSU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
3. Kalle Norberg (OM) vs. Neal Skupski
(LSU) 6-3, 3-4, sus.
4. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU) def. Otto
Sauer (OM) 6-3, 6-1
5. Marcel Thiemann (OM) def. Mark
Bowtell (LSU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Chris Thiemann (OM) def. Cody Loup
(LSU) 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish: 4, 1, 6, 5, 2
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