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Rebel Twins Reach NCAA Final Four In Doubles
ATHENS, Ga. – Ole Miss
senior twins Marcel Thiemann and Chris Thiemann reached the NCAA Final
Four Saturday, coming back and winning a third-set tiebreaker against
VCU’s Antoine Baroz and Alexis Heugas. Freshman Nik Scholtz ended
his run in the NCAA Singles, losing in straight sets to the 2010 NCAA
Champion, Bradley Klahn (Stanford).
For the second time this
week, the twins had to rally to win their match and for the third
straight day it came down to a third set. The VCU team won the
first set 6-2, but the Thiemann’s rallied to win the second
6-3. The Thiemann’s led 4-3 in the third after breaking
Baroz and Huegas, but the VCU duo broke right back. At 5-6, the
twins held to force a tiebreak, which they won 7-4 to clinch the
victory and improve to 19-6.
“It was really tough, we started
off really slow. The other guys got an early break and fortunately we
came back in the second set with a break of our own. We picked up our
game late luckily,” Chris said.
This is the Thiemann’s third NCAA Doubles appearance, but in each of the two previous trips, they’ve lost in the first round.
“Chemistry,
we know each other and we know what each other can do,” said Marcel on
what fueled the late charge in the match. “This is our third time
at the NCAA’s, and our goal was actually just to win the first round
because we didn’t do that the other two times. We’re just enjoying
everything, being seniors now.”
“It’s unbelievable. You always
imagine this early in the season, making it to the NCAA’s and now it’s
just unbelievable that we get to play the semis tomorrow,” Chris
added. “Like Marcel said, we’re just going to try and enjoy
ourselves.”
The Thiemann’s will face the Texas Tech duo,
18th-ranked Raony Carvalho and Gonzalo Escobar, who defeated the No. 2
ranked team of Steven Johnson and Robert Quiroz of Southern Cal in the
quarterfinals. That match will be played at 4:30 p.m. CT.
Unfortunately,
their teammate, Scholtz, won’t be joining them in the semifinals.
In his first three matches, Scholtz, seeded 9-16, went the distance
winning in third sets, including erasing several match points in his
second round to win.
This time, Klahn, ranked No. 36 in the
nation, gained the early momentum, winning the first set 6-1 and then
gaining a break to take the second set 6-3 for the win.
Scholtz
marked the fourth year in a row for the Rebels to have a
quarterfinalist in the NCAA Singles Championship. He concluded an
outstanding rookie campaign at 21-9. The South African’s list of
accomplishments includes SEC Freshman of the Year, ITA Southern Region
Rookie of the Year and becoming the second freshman in the history of
the program to earn All-America honors.
“We’re extremely proud
of the twins. They played really well in the clutch.
It’s great to see them playing well and having fun out
there. Even though Nik didn’t win, he had a great first
year, and we’re looking forward to next year with him leading us.”
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