The Ole Miss Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams competed in the ITA Southern Regionals tournament from Oct. 9-17. Both teams secured victories in doubles while also performing well in singles.
Ole Miss Men’s Tennis
The Men’s ITA Southern Regionals began on Thursday, Oct. 9. Both Gordon Whitwell and Kai Milburn athletes each recorded a win and a loss.
Whitwell defeated Southern Mississippi 6-1, 6-1, and Milburn beat Alabama A&M 6-4, 6-4. Both athletes also recorded a loss. Whitwell lost 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to the University of Alabama–Birmingham, and Milburn lost 6-3, 6-3 to Troy.
The Rebels finished 5-3 in singles on Friday, Oct. 10. Isac Strömberg had a big 6-3, 6-4 win over conference rival LSU. In a tiebreaker game, Stefano D’Agostino defeated Mississippi State 6-4, 7-6, 7-4.
That same day, Matthieu Chambonierre took down Tulane 6-4, 6-2. Noah Schlagenhauf won a close matchup against Jacksonville State 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Pietro Pampanin wrapped up the wins for the day by beating Alabama A&M 6-1, 7-5.
Friday was a rough day in the doubles bracket for Ole Miss. Whitwell and Vlado Jankanj lost to Samford 8-3, and Schlagenhauf and Benjamin Martin lost 8-2 to the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
The Rebels looked like a different team on Saturday, Oct. 11. They swept all three of their doubles matchups; they also finished 6-3 in singles.
Milburn and Strömberg, ranked No. 89 overall, took down North Alabama 8-1. Chambonniere and Loan Lestir beat Alabama State 8-5, and D’Agostino and Pampanin, No. 55 overall, won their match by default after a Tulane player suffered an injury.
In singles, Schlagenhauf defeated Louisiana Lafayette 7-5, 6-2, but lost later in the day to Mississippi State 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. Strömberg also recorded both a loss and a win that day, with a 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 defeat of University of Alabama-Birmingham and a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss to Mississippi State.
Chambonniere won both of his matches, the first 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 over Mississippi State, and the other by default against Alabama. Pampanin started the day with a 7-5, 6-3 win against North Alabama, but later lost to Mississippi State 6-4, 6-1. D’Agostino dropped his lone match against Alabama 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, but overall, Saturday was a strong outing for the Rebels.
The duo of Strömberg and Milburn defeated Auburn 6-4, 6-2, on Monday, Oct. 13, to advance to the championship round, where they defeated Alabama 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 and were crowned ITA Southern Doubles Regional Champions. With this win, the duo officially qualified for the NCAA Doubles Championships.
Ole Miss Women’s Tennis
Day one of the ITA Southern Regionals, on Monday, Oct. 13, the women’s tennis team totaled seven wins in the singles brackets, swept the doubles bracket and won all three of those matches.
Riley Crowder won against the University of North Alabama 6-2, 6-1. Emily Welker beat Tulane 6-2, 6-4 and the University of South Alabama 6-1, 6-0.
Brooklyn Olson finished the first day with two wins, one a 6-1, 6-0 win against Alabama A&M and the other a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Tulane. Ichino Horikawa lost her day one matchup 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 against Jacksonville State.
Alice Soulié dominated on the court in both of her singles matchups. She defeated Troy 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, then went on to beat Mississippi State 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.
The pairs of Horikawa and Soulié, Olson and Crowder and Andrea Nova and Welker competed in doubles and came out victorious over Samford, McNeese and McNeese State, respectively.
Despite their success on day one, the Lady Rebels lost all four singles matchups on the second day. Welker, Olson, Soulie and Crowder recorded losses.
In the day two doubles bracket, Nova and Welker won both their matchups with ease. The first was an 8-4 win over LSU and the second was a 8-3 win over Mississippi State. Horikawa and Soulié also had an 8-2 win over McNeese, but also recorded a hard-fought 8-6 loss to Tulane.
Olson and Crowder played in two tight matches. Against Alabama, they lost 8-4, but against Jacksonville State, they won 8-6.
Welker was the name of the day on Wednesday, Oct. 15, after her 6-3, 6-3 win over Auburn in the singles bracket. She also won in doubles with her partner Nova over Alabama with scores of 1-6, 6-2 (10-6).
Welker lost in the singles bracket to Alabama 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday, Oct. 16. Welker and Nova won the doubles bracket, defeating Tulane 6-2, 6-1. They were crowned ITA Southern Regionals doubles champions.
