OXFORD, Miss. - - Belmont University men's tennis dropped a 4-0 decision at No. 15 Ole Miss Saturday in the 2021 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship from Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
Meeting the host Rebels 15 years after its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2006, Belmont was a formidable foe against the SEC stalwart making its 27th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
Belmont stood toe-to-toe with Ole Miss, leading to one of the most fiercely-contested doubles points in recent memory.
At No. 3 doubles, junior Arthur Toledo (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and senior Jake Briggs (Marietta, Ga.) won an emotional final two games to defeat the pairing of Jakob Cadonau and Lukas Engelhardt, 6-4.
After freshmen Diego Castro (Ribeirão Preto, Brazil) and Tomas Luis (Tavira, Portugal) dropped a hard-fought 6-3 decision to Brady Draheim and Simon Junk, all eyes shifted to No. 1 doubles.
Senior Marko Ilic (Zagreb, Croatia) - a former All-American in doubles in his own right - and senior Taisei Miyamoto (Chiba, Japan) were facing the nationally top-ranked doubles pair of Tim Sandkaulen and Finn Reynolds.
After failing behind 3-0 early as Reynolds benefitted from two let cord winners, Ilic and Miyamoto rallied to win five of the next six games, seizing a 5-4 lead.
As Toledo and Briggs secured their match victory, Ilic earned a 40-30 lead on his serve, with two match points to earn the Bruins a gigantic upset and put a point on the scoreboard.
The home Ole Miss crowd stood in stunned silence as Belmont was on the verge of a monumental doubles point stunner.
However, Ole Miss won the 40-30 point, as well as the duece point on Ilic's serve courtesy a Sandkaulen winner to break back at 5-5.
After Reynolds held serve, Miyamoto admirably held serve amidst freshening winds and a partisan home crowd to get the Bruins into a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, the teams went back and forth with quality groundstrokes and recovery shots, highlighted by Miyamoto's court coverage.
At 6-5, Ole Miss held serve to claim the match and doubles points.
Being so tantalizingly close - literally one point away - from the earning the doubles point at the 15th seed was a difficult reality, and swung momentum back in the hosts favor.
Belmont labored to find a rhythm early in singles, as Ole Miss seized control at third and fourth singles.
Meanwhile, Miyamoto continued to showcase his trademark heart and resiliency, staving off two set points to rally past Junk and win his opening set, 7-6.
Ilic and Toledo each had their moments of brilliance in singles, but the Rebels consistently won swing points and duece points.
To their credit, Sandkaulen and Reynolds delivered All-SEC shotmaking to stave off quality Belmont play.
Belmont completes its historic season with a record of 13-5.
NO. 15 OLE MISS 4, BELMONT 0
Singles Competition
1. SANDKAULEN, Tim (MISS) def. ILIC, Marko (BEL) 6-3, 6-4
2. REYNOLDS, Finn (MISS) vs. TOLEDO, Arthur (BEL) 7-5, 4-1 DNF
3. SLAVIC, Nikola def. LUIS, Tomas (BEL) 6-1, 6-2
4. LATHEN, J.H. (MISS) def. CASTRO, Diego (BEL) 6-2, 6-1
5. JUNK, Simon (MISS) vs. MIYAMOTO, Taisei (BEL) 6-7, DNF
6. ENGELHARDT, Lukas (MISS) vs. WALLIN, ALFRED (BEL) 6-2, 3-2 DNF
Doubles Competition
1. SANDKAULEN, Tim/REYNOLDS, Finn (MISS) def. ILIC, Marko/MIYAMOTO, Taisei (BEL) 7-6, (7-5)
2. DRAHEIM, Brady/JUNK, Simon (MISS) def. CASTRO,Diego/LUIS, Tomas (BEL) 6-3
3. TOLEDO, Arthur/BRIGGS, Jake (BEL) def. CADONAU, Jakob/ENGELHARDT, Lukas (MISS) 6-4
