Men’s Tennis Wraps Up Day One of SEC/Big Ten Challenge

OXFORD, Miss. – The Ole Miss men’s tennis team wrapped up play at the opening round of the SEC/Big Ten Challenge on Friday with a pair of doubles wins and four singles victories to start off the weekend in Tuscaloosa.
 
The Rebels finished the day 2-1 in doubles with the top 10 ranked pair of Nikola Slavic and Lukas Engelhardt opening their season on a high note by earning a 6-4 victory over Michigan’s Jacob Bickersteth and Nicholas Steiglehner.
 
John Hallquist Lithén and Noah Schlagenhauf followed suit by battling to a 7-6 (10) win in the tiebreaker against the Wolverine duo of Alex Cairo and Mert Oral. Isac Strömberg and Gordon Whitwell came up short against Purdue’s Mujtaba Ali-Khan and Stefan Simeunovic, 6-1.
 
All American, Slavic, completed a perfect day as he defeated Michigan’s Nicholas Steiglehner, 6-4, 6-3. Schlagenhauf also kicked off the season undefeated after besting Cairo in a tight matchup, 7-5, 7-5 (4).
 
The sophomore, Strömberg, also helped put an exclamation point on the Rebel’s day by notching his first win of the season, taking down Purdue’s Ali’Khan, 6-2, 6-2. Hallquist Lithén was in an absolute clash with Bickersteth, before being forced to retire in the third set.
 
Whitwell and Engelhardt both came up short in their respective singles matches to open their fall seasons with Whitwell falling to Purdue’s Simeunovic (6-0, 6-1) and Engelhardt narrowly dropping his match against Oral (6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-5).
 
The Rebels will return to action Saturday morning with two rounds of doubles action starting at 10 a.m. followed by singles play in Tuscaloosa.
 
For more information on Ole Miss Men’s Tennis, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissMTennis, on Facebook at OleMissMTennis and on Instagram at OleMissMTennis, follow Coach Hansson on Twitter at @TennisToby.
 
FRIDAY RESULTS
 
Doubles
L. Engelhardt/N. Slavic (Ole Miss) def. J. Bickersteth/N. Steiglehner (Michigan), 6-4
J. Hallquist Lithen/N. Schlagenhauf (Ole Miss) def. A. Cairo/M. Oral (Michigan), 7-6 (10)
M. Ali-Kahn/S. Simeunovic (Purdue) def. I. Stromberg/G. Whitwell (Ole Miss), 6-1
 
Singles
J. Bickersteth (Michigan) def. J. Hallquist-Lithen (Ole Miss), 1-6, 6-1, 3-1 (ret)
N. Slavic (Ole Miss) def. N. Steiglehner (Michigan), 6-4, 6-3
N. Schlagenhauf (Ole Miss) def. A. Cairo (Michigan), 7-5, 7-6 (4)
M. Oral…