Nik Scholtz. UM photo by Kevin Bain
OXFORD, Miss. — In an epic battle between two of the nation’s top teams at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center/Galtney Courts here Wednesday, the No. 16 ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to No. 3 Virginia.
The Rebels (5-3) came out firing behind a crowd of more than 600 and won the doubles point and then gained singles wins at one and four to take a 3-0 lead against Virginia, the NCAA Runner-up a year ago. But as they did against Mississippi State on Tuesday, the Cavaliers rallied.
The Cavaliers posted three-set wins on courts three, two and six in that order to even up the match. With the match all square, all eyes turned to court five where Rebel senior Chris Thiemann was serving for the win up 6-5 in the third. He led 30-15, but UVA sophomore Justin Shane came back to force a tiebreaker, which he won 7-4 to clinch the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) and the Cavaliers second straight 4-3 win in two days. Thiemann had trailed 5-2 in the second before winning four straight games.
Ole Miss swept the doubles winning all three matches 8-6 to go up 1-0. William Kallberg and Johan Backstrom were first off the court at three, and then Nik Scholtz and Jonas Lutjen finished off their win at No. 2 to clinch the point.
With the crowd behind them, the Rebels took the first set on five of the six courts. Both of Ole Miss’ freshmen came up with huge wins to give the Rebels the 3-0 advantage. Kallberg defeated UVA’s Philippe Oudshoorn 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4 and then Scholtz handed 53rd-ranked Alex Domijan a 6-3, 6-4 loss at No. 1. Scholtz, ranked No. 55 in the nation, improved to 6-1 at the top spot.
On three of the courts where the Rebels won the first set, Virginia battled back to take the second sets. One of those featured Lutjen, ranked No. 48 in the country, against the nation’s top-ranked player, Mitchell Frank. Lutjen dominated the first set 6-1, but Frank took the second 6-4 and then pulled away in the third 6-1 to put the Cavaliers on the board.
Marcel Thiemann had chances to win his match at No. 2 against eighth-ranked Jamere Jenkins. This was the second meeting between the two with Marcel, ranked No. 46, having defeated Jenkins in the NCAA Singles Championships two years ago. Thiemann won the first set 6-2, but Jenkins rallied to take the second set 6-4. Marcel was up 4-3 and 0-30, but Jenkins held and then broke Marcel to go up 5-4. Marcel had 0-30 again on Jenkins’ serve, but the Cavalier won three straight points. Marcel got it back to deuce, but Jenkins won the final two points to pull the Cavaliers within one.
Moments later, Virginia’s Julen Uriguen finished off a three-setter against Backstrom at No. 6 to square the match, setting up the final outcome at five.
The Rebels must recover quickly, as they travel to Knoxville to face No. 19 Tennessee Friday at 12 p.m. CT and then play at No. 6 Georgia on Sunday at noon. Both matches will have live scoring, and Friday’s match will feature live streaming. You can access the links at www.OleMissSports.com.