No. 6 Mississippi Tops Men's Tennis 5-1

Friday, January 27

University, Miss.

2:00 PM

University of Louisville

Mississippi

January 27, 2006 | Men's Tennis

Jan. 27, 2006

OXFORD, Miss. - - The University of Louisville men's tennis team fell to sixth-ranked Mississippi 5-1 Friday at the Gillom Sports Center in Oxford, Miss. The Cards (3-1) will travel to third-ranked Georgia Sunday.

"We started off well, winning the doubles point against a team that won 2005 Southeastern Conference championship and made it to final four last year," said U of L head coach Rex Ecarma. "They had a loud and vocal crowd behind them, which provided a great tennis atmosphere."

The Cards took an early 1-0 lead by clinching the doubles point to start the match. U of L's Damar Johnson and Jhonny Berrido defeated Bram ten Berge and Jakob Klaeson 8-3 at No. 2, while the Ole Miss team of Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson posted an 8-4 win over Jeremy Clark and Jakob Gustafsson at the top seed to even the doubles matches. Louisville's Slavko Radman and Tony Teufel rallied to a 9-8(5) win over Juan Pablo DiCesare and Robbye Poole at the three-spot to clinch the doubles point.

In singles action, Mississippi's No. 26-ranked Erling Tveit tied the match with a 6-4, 7-6(8) win over Damar Johnson at the top seed. Ten Berge gave the Rebels a 2-1 lead, defeating Gustafsson 6-3, 7-6(6) at No. 3. Robbye Poole picked up another singles point for Ole Miss with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Louisville's Jhonny Berrido, making the score 3-1. The Rebels' Claesson and Radman battled at No. 2, but the No. 22-ranked Claesson pulled out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) win to clinch the match. Louisville's Clark and Di Cesare were also in a close match at the four-spot with Di Cesare secured the point with a 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 decision. Ole Miss (1-0) notched its 26th straight regular season home win.

"I felt like everything came down to about three points," said Ecarma. "Slavko Radman had a chance to win the third set tiebreaker. Damar Johnson and Jakob Gustfsson both had set points in their second sets. This could have been a 4-3 match against one of the country's best. Good teams find ways to win those critical points. This Mississippi team should challenge for national championship this year. We gave it a valiant effort - we learned a lot, played well, but tonight it just wasn't enough."

 6 Ole Miss 5  - 32 Louisville 1
Singles1. #26 Erling Tveit (OM) def. Damar Johnson (UL) 6-4, 7-6(8)2.#22 Eric Claesson (OM) def. Slavko Radman (UL) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5)3. #83 Bram ten Berge (OM) def. Jakob Gustafsson (UL) 6-3, 7-6(6)4. #43 Juan Pablo DiCesare (OM) def. Jeremy Clark (UL) 6-2, 3-6, 10-75. Robbye Poole (OM) def. Jhonny Berrido (UL) 6-2, 6-16. Jakob Klaeson (OM) vs. Nicolas Houard (UL) 4-2, susp.Doubles1. #40 Erling Tveit/Claeson (OM) def. #47 Clark/Gustafsson (UL) 8-42. Johnson/Berrido (UL) def. ten Berge/Klaeson (OM) 8-33. Radman/Tony Teufel (UL) def. DiCesare/Poole (OM) 9-8(5)