Alabama
Ole Miss
No. 18 Alabama Comes Up Short Against Ole Miss, 4-3
3/16/2019 4:33:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The Crimson Tide led 3-0, before falling 4-3
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – No. 18 Alabama held the 3-0 advantage before No. 43 Ole Miss battled back to win 4-3 on Saturday afternoon at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. With the loss, the Crimson Tide drops to 12-6 overall and 2-4 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Rebels move to 10-8 and 2-4 in SEC competition.
"Full credit goes to Ole Miss," said head coach George Husack. "They competed really well, and I think it was clear in a couple of areas in doubles and singles that we need to execute better. What we take out of this is how we're going to respond and how we respond will define us as a team. This loss doesn't define the team, we just have to keep building and get better."
The Tide began doubles play by getting a win on court one from the No. 17-ranked pair in the country in senior Mazen Osama and sophomore Patrick Kaukovalta after they defeated No. 75 Sandkaulen/Krljevic, 6-1. On court two, both sides battled back-and-forth when juniors Alexey Nesterov and Zhe Zhou pulled out the 7-5 victory over Wilson/Fallert to clinch the doubles point.
Sophomore Jeremy Gschwendtner continued his hot streak in singles play after cruising to the 6-0, 6-0, win to extend the Tide lead to 2-0. Gschwendtner is now 10-1 overall and 5-0 in SEC singles play in his first year of collegiate tennis. Shortly after, Zhou took care of business on court five, 6-2, 6-2, to make it 3-0. Moments later, the Rebels responded with a win on court two, as UA still held the 3-1 advantage.
Ole Miss trimmed the deficit in half when it earned a win on court one to make it 3-2. The Rebels added another victory on court three, before closing out the match, 4-3, on court two.
Next up, Alabama will hit the road once again for a match against Auburn on Friday, March 22 at 6 p.m., at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Ala.
Alabama Results
Doubles
- No. 17 Osama/Kaukovalta def. No. 75 Sandkaulen/Kraljevic, 6-1
- Nesterov/Zhou def. Wilson/Fallert, 7-5
- Kranic/Reynolds vs. Roberto/Ortiz, 6-5, unf.
Order of Finish: 1, 2
Singles
- No. 73 Tim Sandkaulen def. No. 36 Mazen Osama, 6-2, 7-6(4)
- Filip Kraljevic def. Edson Ortiz, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
- Fabian Fallert def. Patrick Kaukovalta, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3
- Karlo Kranic def. Riccardo Roberto, 6-1, 6-2
- Zhe Zhou def. Simon Junk, 6-2, 6-2
- Jeremy Gschwendtner def. Jan Soren Hain, 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 5, 4, 1, 3, 2
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Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,5,4,1,3,2
Players Mentioned
