SEATTLE – The No. 5 seeded Ole Miss men’s tennis team downed 12th-seeded North Carolina 4-1 Friday morning at the Seattle Tennis Club in the first round of the ITANational Team Indoor. The Rebels will face Oklahoma State, a 4-2 winner over Baylor, in the quarterfinals Saturday at 10 a.m. CT at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. 

 This will be the second meeting between the two teams in less than three weeks.  The Rebels downed the Cowboys 6-1 in Tulsa, Okla., on Feb. 2. 

Ole Miss (5-1) advanced to the quarterfinals for the 10^th time overall in 15 appearances and the fifth year in a row. 

With their top player, Erling Tveit, back in the lineup after missing the previous two matches with a pulled abdominal muscle, the Rebels jumped out to a commanding lead in doubles and never looked back.  Ole Miss posted an 8-3 win at No. 2 doubles and followed with an 8-2 victory at the top spot for the 1-0 lead.

Sophomore Kalle Norberg downed UNC’s David Stone 6-3, 6-0 at No. 6 singles to make it 2-0 Ole Miss. Junior Bram ten Berge added the third point with his 7-5, 6-1 win over Tar Heel Chris Kearney at No. 4 singles.

North Carolina (4-3) got on the board, when Stefan Hardy knocked off fifth-ranked Matthias Wellermann 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 2 position. 

But that would be it for the Tar Heels, as this week’s SEC Player of the Week, Robbye Poole, finished off Clay Donato, 7-5, 7-5 at No. 3 singles, to clinch the victory.

“We did an outstanding job in doubles,” head coach Billy Chadwick said. “We were winning at all three positions.  Carolina came out really strong in singles and took the first set at No. 2 and at No. 1.  Bram played extremely well, Robbye played well, and Kalle played great.  We were in a dogfight in Jonas’ (Berg) match.”

With the win, Ole Miss moved to 3-2 all-time against North Carolina.  The Tar Heels move into the backdraw where they will face No. 4 Baylor.

Oklahoma State pulled off the upset against the Bears, rallying after losing the doubles point, to win four singles in straight sets.  In their previous meeting this year, Ole Miss won the doubles point and five of the six singles matches. 

“We are looking forward to playing Oklahoma State again,” Chadwick said.  “This is pretty much the same team we faced earlier in the season, but their No. 3 player, who had the flu, is back.  They are good, but we’ll be ready.”

Since the match will be played at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the University of Washington campus, regular live stats will be available as well as live video.