Ole Miss men fall at Auburn
Published 6:00 am Sunday, March 20, 2016
AUBURN, Ala. — The No. 22 Ole Miss men’s tennis team won the doubles point on the road at Auburn, but could not hang on in singles, falling 4-3 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center Friday.
The match began outdoors with the Rebels taking the doubles point in exciting fashion. For the second straight match, it came down to No. 3 doubles, where Stefan Lindmark and Gustav Hansson were able to win a tiebreaker 7-6(4) to clinch the point.
Singles began outdoors and the Rebels were up on most courts, before a 27-minute rain delay. Shortly after 4, play was moved indoors and the momentum started to shift. Auburn tied the match when Max Hinnisdaels defeated Lindmark 6-4, 7-5 at No. 1 singles.
The Rebels briefly regained the lead when sophomore Grey Hamilton finished off Brandon Laubser 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 singles.
Junior Ricardo Jorge was one of four Rebels to win their first set, but once play resumed indoors, his opponent, Olle Thestrup, turned the match around, winning the second set 6-2 and then winning the final two games of the third set for 6-4 to square the match at 2-2.
Freshman Fabian Fallert lost his first set to Dante Saleh 6-3, but hung in there in the second set to get to a tiebreaker. Saleh won the breaker 7-4 to hand the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
At the time, Hansson was up early in the third set against Marko Krickovic, but Auburn’s Conner Huertas del Pino finished off a comeback against Rebel freshman Filip Kraljevic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 singles to clinch the win.
With Hansson up 4-1 in the third, Krickovic retired giving the Rebels the final point.
Notes
• Ole Miss dropped to 7-5 overall, 2-3 in the SEC. They head to No. 24 Florida today for a noon CT match.
• Grey Hamilton improved to 4-1 in the SEC with his win.