AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 30 Ole Miss men’s tennis team was unable to navigate a tricky Top 30 matchup with the No. 22 Auburn Tigers on Saturday, as the Rebels dropped the match 4-0 at Yarbrough Tennis Center.
The Rebels (12-4, 2-2 SEC) saw a new lineup try to take down the Auburn (12-6, 2-3 SEC) squad on their home courts, with the Rebels having been bit by the injury bug in the team’s previous match. The Tigers would prevail on their home court, however, sweeping the Rebels to hand Ole Miss their second loss in conference play.
The Tigers put the Rebels on their heels early with two quick wins over Noah Schlagenhauf/Isac Strömberg and John Hallquist Lithen/Walker Stearns in doubles action to take the early 1-0 lead on Ole Miss. The match marked the first time the freshman duo of Schlagenhauf and Strömberg played on Court 2 for doubles, as well as the first time that Lithen and Stearns have played together this season.
Moving to singles action, the Tigers kept their foot on the gas by winning the first set on four out of six matches to start things off. Lukas Engelhardt was able to garner a 6-4 first set win in his matchup against Finn Murgett in No. 4 singles, while John Hallquist Lithen battled back from 0-4 down to reverse sweep his opening set and take a 6-4 advantage into set two.
Auburn continued to fight their way past the Rebels, claiming a 6-1, 6-3 win on Court 3 before grabbing another point in Court 6 singles to increase their lead to 3-0. One last win for the Tigers over Strömberg in No. 5 singles was the match-clinching blow, as the Tigers capped off the sweep over the Rebels, 4-0.
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