Rebel tennis teams to compete in unique co-ed tournament

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Ole Miss will have a chance to shine with the nation's best next month when members of the Rebel and Lady Rebel tennis teams travel to Stanford for a rare co-ed event.

Ole Miss will be among 16 of the nation's top collegiate men's and women's tennis teams that will compete in the second annual WingspanBank.com/WTT National Collegiate Tennis Championships at Stanford University's Taube Family Tennis Stadium, Oct. 6-8. This will mark the second ever co-ed intercollegiate national tennis championships.

The three-day event, hosted by Merrill Corporation and administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) and DuPont World Team Tennis, creates the unique scenario in which a co-ed national collegiate champion will be crowned in an NCAA-sanctioned sport.

Ole Miss finished fifth in the inaugural event last year. In the first round, they defeated Kansas, before losing to LSU in the quarterfinals. The Rebels bounced back to beat Vanderbilt and Notre Dame to clinch fifth out of 16 teams.

The other teams scheduled to participate in this year's event are UCLA, Clemson, Illinois, LSU, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, San Diego State, South Alabama, Southern California, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas A&M, Tulsa and Virginia Commonwealth.

The field for the event is made up of 16 of the top men's and women's NCAA teams based on their combined season-ending WingspanBank.com Collegiate Tennis Ranking. The teams are comprised of two men, two women and a coach. Each team match consists of five sets, with one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. One point is awarded for each game won. A nine-point tiebreaker is played if a set reaches five all. If necessary, overtime and a "Supertiebreaker" are played to determine the outright winner of the match.

The Rebels ended last year ranked No. 14 in the nation with a 19-6 overall record, while the Lady Rebels posted a 16-8 record and a final ranking of No. 18.