May 23, 1998

ATHENS, Ga. -- The California men's tennis team's magical 1998 run came to an end Saturday night as the 12th-ranked Golden Bears were defeated, 4-1, by 6th-ranked Mississippi in the Round of 16 at the 1998 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships. The loss ended the Bears season at 17-7, Cal's best record since 1989 when it posted a 24-8 mark. Mississippi (18-7) moves on to face Southeastern Conference foe and No. 1-ranked Louisiana State (24-1), a 4-0 winner over Southern Methodist, in Sunday's quarterfinals.

As Cal has done repeatedly over the last month, the Bears opened Saturday's contest by dropping the doubles point. But this time there would be no miracle comeback for the Bears, who overcame early deficits in both of their regional victories, as Mississippi went on to capture singles wins in the Nos. 3, 4 and 6 positions to hold off Cal.

Cal's lone highlight during the dual match came from an unlikely source as the Bears No. 2 singles player, Nathan Jackmon, broke an eight match losing streak with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Top-50-ranked Martin Sjoqvist, that pulled Cal with in a point of the Rebels at 2-1.

1998 NCAA MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
at University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.
No. 6 Misssissippi vs. No. 12 California

FINAL SCORE:    Mississippi 4 
                California  1 
Singles (One point each)
1. Bobby Mahal (Cal)        vs.     Sebastien DeChaunac (Miss.) DNF
2. Nathan Jackmon (Cal)     def.    Martin Sjoqvist (Miss.) 6-4, 6-4
3. Sebastien Lami (Miss.)   def.    Minh Le (Cal)   7-6 (7), 7-6 (4)
4. Vikrant Chada (Miss.)    def.    Adrian Barnes (Cal) 2-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2
5. Kian Raiszadeh (Cal)     vs.     James Shortall (Miss.)  DNF
6. Anders Stenman (Miss.)   def.    David Sutton (Cal)  6-2, 6-3

Doubles (Mississippi wins doubles point)
1. DeChaunnac/Sjoqvist (Miss.)  def.    Le/Mahal (Cal)  9-7
2. Chada/Lami (Miss.)           def.    Jackmon/Chris Santoso (Cal) 8-4
3. Barnes/Sutton (Cal)          vs.     Shortall/Stenman (Miss.)    DNF

--CAL--