The Ole Miss men’s tennis team put up a strong effort against the TCU Horned Frogs, ultimately falling 4-3 for its third spring season loss.
No. 20 Ole Miss and No. 3 TCU faced off in a highly competitive match with Ole Miss winning three singles matches and one doubles match. As both teams tied 3-3 in singles, the deciding factor came down to the last doubles match where Ole Miss’ Jakob Cadonau and Nikola Slavic lost 7-5 to TCU’s Bertus Kruger and Juan Martin.
Last weekend, the Rebels lost to the Memphis Tigers 4-3, putting up another great effort but unable to take the victory, as seen in this week’s match. However, the Rebels have won most of the matches off of TCU this season.
In singles, senior Finn Reynolds lost to TCU’s No. 47 Luc Fomba with scores of 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5) and 6-1. This marks the first time Reynolds was set to play in the No. 1 singles match this season. For the second singles match, senior Tim Sandkaulen lost to No. 21 Alastair Gray 6-1, 6-3 and 6-3, as he won the first set but fell short in the last two. The other loss in singles came from Cadonau’s loss to Martin, 5-7, 6-3 and 6-0.
The winning matches in singles came from Slavic, who won against No. 113 Sander Jong, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7), junior Simon Junk, who defeated TCU’s Tomas Jirousek, 7-5, 6-2, and freshman John Hallquist Lithén, who defeated Kruger 6-4, 6-3.
As far doubles, the lonesome winning match came from No. 7 Reynolds and Sandkaulen, as the pair defeated Fomba and Gray, 7-5. Senior Brady Draheim and Cadonau lost to No. 24 Jong and Paroulek, 6-2. Slavic and Cadonau lost to Kruger and Martin, 7-5, in the final match.
Ole Miss now stands at a 1-4 overall record with the new loss, as TCU holds a 6-0 overall record. The Rebels will soon face off against teams such as No. 15 Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee for the remainder of February.
In an effort to break the two-game losing streak, Ole Miss will head to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face currently ranked No. 15 Oklahoma State on Friday, Feb. 12.