May 30, 2012

Complete ITA Rankings

OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss men's tennis team ended another great year at No. 14 in the final ITA National Team Rankings announced recently.  The Rebels earned the program's 19th top-15 finish in 24 years.

The Rebels (15-9) hosted the NCAA first and second rounds for the 10th time and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the 16th time in the history of the program.  In addition, Marcel Thiemann and Chris Thiemann became the sixth Rebel tandem to reach the NCAA Final Four in doubles, and freshman Nik Scholtz reached the NCAA Singles Quarterfinals, marking the fourth year in a row for Ole Miss to have at least a quarterfinalist in singles.

Scholtz was named the SEC Freshman of the Year as well as the ITA Southern Region Rookie of the Year.  Marcel became the fourth player to earn All-SEC first team honors three times.  They were joined on the All-SEC team by Jonas Lutjen.

"It was a great year.  One of our goals was to move into the top 16 and host the NCAAs, and we achieved that," head coach Billy Chadwick said.  With the core of this year's team returning [in 2013], our goal is to build upon this finish and win a championship."

The Rebels will return Scholtz, Lutjen, Johan Backstrom, William Kallberg, Adrian Forberg Skogeng and Joe Rogers and Zach Wilder, who redshirted this year.  Ole Miss also adds Swedish standout Stefan Lindmark, who signed last November.

The final singles and doubles rankings will be announced next week.  

Follow the Rebels on twitter at @OleMissMTennis and on facebook at www.facebook.com/OleMissMTennis.