March 4, 2007

Oxford, Miss. – The University of South Carolina men’s tennis team dropped a tough 4-0 match to national powerhouse Mississippi Sunday afternoon at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center. The defeat moves the Gamecocks to 9-4 (1-1 SEC), while Mississippi improves to 12-1 (2-0 SEC).

The sixth-ranked Ole Miss Rebels jumped on the scoring fast, winning the first two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. David Wolff and Ivan Cressoni fell first, dropping their match to Jonas Berg and Kalle Norberg, 8-4 on court three. At first doubles Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson defeated South Carolina’s Pedro Campos and Yevgeny Supeko, 8-3 to clinch the doubles point. At third singles, Thomas Stoddard and Joseph Veeder’s match against Jakon Klaeson and Mathias Wellerman was unifinished.

With the start of singles play the Gamecocks continued to struggle against the deep Rebel lineup. At first singles, # 32 Tveit dispatched Campos in straight sets 6-2, 6-0, while Spencer Feldman was defeated 6-0, 6-0 by Norberg at the sixth slot.

The victories gave Mississippi a 3-0 advantage, and put the Rebels one win away from the taking the match.

With the match on the line, Cressoni fought valiantly against # 21 Robbye Poole at the third singles position. The freshman was able to claim three games in the first set, before falling 6-0 in the second set.

The point gave Mississippi a 4-0 advantage and clinched the match. The No. 2, No. 4, and No. 6 singles matches were unfinished, including the duel between nationally ranked opponents Supeko and Claesson at the second slot.

The Gamecocks will return to action next Friday at 2 p.m. when they play host to the # 1 ranked University of Georgia Bulldogs. The match which is free to the public will take place at the Sam Daniels Tennis facility on Heyward Street. Live updates will be available at USCsports.com

Doubles
No. 1 Tveit/Claesson (UM) def Campos/Supeko (USC), 8-3
No. 2 Klaeson/Wellermann (UM) vs Stoddard/Veeder (USC), unfinished
No. 3 Berg/Norberg (UM) def Wolff/Cressoni (USC), 8-4

Doubles Order of Finish 3, 1,

Singles
No. 1 Erling Tveit (UM) def Pedro Campos (USC), 6-2, 6-0
No. 2 Eric Claesson (UM) vs Yevgeny Supeko (USC), unfinished
No. 3 Robbye Poole (UM) def Ivan Cressoni (USC), 6-3, 6-0
No. 4 Jakob Klaeso (UM) vs David Wolff (USC), unfinished
No. 5 Jonas Berg (UM) def Spencer Feldman (USC), 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 Kalle Norberg (UM) vs Thomas Stoddard (USC), unfinished

Singles Order of Finish 1, 5, 3