OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss men’s tennis team made their way back into the Top 25 for the first time in over a year on Tuesday, as the Rebels slotted into the No. 25 position in the latest ITA Team Rankings.
The Rebels (16-6) have been on a tear as of late, winning three of their past four matches, all of which were ranked victories for the Ole Miss squad. Most recently the Rebels were able to topple then-No. 21 ranked Texas A&M on Sunday in the team’s home finale, marking the team’s second Top 25 win on the season this spring.
The win over the Aggies marked the team’s 13th home victory of the season to close out 2022-23, which stands as the most home victories for an Ole Miss men’s tennis team since the 2006-07 season, in which the Rebels went a perfect 14-0 in Oxford.
The Rebels also saw a historic streak earlier in the season, winning nine straight dual matches. The streak stands as the longest streak for the Rebel squad since the 2008-09 season, in which Ole Miss strung together an unbelievable 20-match win streak enroute to finishing 10-0 in SEC play, claiming both the SEC regular season and SEC tournament titles. That Rebel team’s season would come to a close with a loss in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, ending the year with a 27-3 record overall on the year.
Not only is this the first time the Rebels have entered the Top 25 on the 2022-23 season, but it marks the first Top 25 ranking for the team in over a year when Ole Miss earned the No. 20 ranking in the country on March 9, 2022.
With the move up into the Top 25, head coach Toby Hansson now continues his streak of leading the Rebels to a Top 25 ranking in each of his nine seasons at the helm of the Ole Miss men’s tennis program.
Nikola Slavic was the lone Rebel to earn a spot in the latest ITA Singles Rankings, as the senior slotted into the No. 65 position nationally. He and teammate Lukas Engelhardt also moved up in the ITA Doubles Rankings, with the duo now sitting 46th in the country with a perfect 3-0 record in ranked doubles matches.
The Rebels are set to close out their regular season this week with a pair of road matches, first in Knoxville as Ole Miss takes on No. 8 Tennessee on Friday, April 14. The team will then cap off their 2022-23 regular season on April 16 with a match against No. 4 Georgia.
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