Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Rebs to Host

THE ONLY SPORT THEY WILL HOST IN THIS YEAR

(UMAA) OXFORD, Miss. – The No. 4 nationally ranked Ole Miss men’s tennis team will have five players represented in the NCAA Individual Championships as those selections were announced Wednesday.

Senior Erling Tveit, ranked No.22 in the nation, will be making his third consecutive appearance at the NCAA Singles Championships as well as his third straight doubles appearance. The two-time All-American reached the semifinals in singles in 2006, becoming the fourth Rebel to advance that far. Last year he advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles with former All-American Eric Claesson.

Robbye Poole also received an at-large bid to the 64-player field, and will be going for the second year in a row. The senior reached the round of 16 in his first appearance last year, becoming the 20th All-American in the history of the program.

Senior Matthias Wellermann earned his first ever NCAA singles bid. He is ranked No. 29 in the nation with a 21-13 overall record.

Ole Miss will have two doubles teams in the 32-team field. Tveit and junior Jonas Berg earned the No. 4 seed in the draw. They are ranked No. 5 in the nation with a 25-7 overall record.

Joining them will be Wellermann and Bram ten Berge. The two are ranked No. 21 in the nation, but have not played together in a month with ten Berge missing the last nine matches with an injured foot. ten Berge is practicing full time now and should be ready to go for the NCAA Championships.

Ole Miss tied with five other schools for the most singles selections and with one school for the most doubles selections.

The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 21-26 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., following the conclusion of the team championship (May 16-20).