{"id":36636,"date":"2014-05-20T13:29:04","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T18:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/?p=36636"},"modified":"2014-09-23T08:25:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T13:25:35","slug":"scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholtz Seeks NCAA Title"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nik<\/a>

Nik Scholtz<\/p><\/div>\n

OXFORD, Miss.\u00a0\u2013 Last month, Nik Scholtz became the first Ole Miss men\u2019s tennis player to be named SEC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year during his career, and he hopes this time next week to add to that list of accomplishments with an NCAA title.<\/p>\n

The NCAA Singles Championship gets underway Wednesday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia, site of the 2012 NCAA Championships, where Scholtz reached the Elite Eight as a freshman.\u00a0 Scholtz will face VCU senior Alexis Heugas in the first round at 1 p.m. CT.\u00a0 This will be the first ever meeting between the two.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really looking forward to the NCAAs, especially because it\u2019s in Athens,\u201d said Scholtz, who is seeded 9-16 for the third straight year.\u00a0 \u201cI honestly believe I can go far if I play well.\u00a0\u00a0 If someone beats me this year, it\u2019s either because I had a really bad day or they played really well.\u00a0 I am pretty confident right now.\u00a0 I just need to keep doing what I\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This will be the final time for head coach Billy Chadwick to coach Scholtz, as he is retiring at the end of the season.\u00a0 It would be a great going away present if Scholtz could make a run at the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cNik is at the top of his game, he\u2019s worked really hard since the team season ended,\u201d Chadwick said.\u00a0 \u201cWe are looking forward to a good tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scholtz led the Rebels to their 21st<\/sup>\u00a0consecutive NCAA appearance where the team advanced to the second round before falling to Notre Dame in a very close 4-2 match.\u00a0 Since then, he has been preparing for the individual tournament with the help of some of his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were obviously disappointed that the season ended in South Bend,\u201d Scholtz said. \u201cSome of the guys and members of our support staff are done forever, Johan (Backstrom \u2013 senior) and Ben (Angle \u2013 athletic trainer). Those guys will be missed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of guys helping me prepare for this week.\u00a0 William (Kallberg), Slick (Stefan Lindmark) and Jonas (Lutjen) were still in Oxford.\u00a0 Also, Johan has been helping me some and obviously Toby (Hansson \u2013 associate head coach).\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ve had really good preparation. The weather has been good.\u00a0 I am ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a sophomore in 2013, Scholtz ended the year ranked No. 17 in the nation in singles and No. 4 in doubles, one of only six players in the nation to finish ranked top 20 in singles and top 10 in doubles. Seeded 9-16 in NCAA singles, Scholtz was upset in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship, a setback he learned from.\u00a0 He has only lost one match since mid-January, including a 15-1 mark at No. 1 singles.\u00a0 He finished 8-1 in the SEC on his way to becoming the fourth Rebel to earn SEC Player of the Year honors.<\/p>\n

\u201cNik learned a lot from both previous NCAA experiences,\u201d Chadwick said. \u201cWhen he made the quarterfinals, he won several close matches and really fought hard.\u00a0 When he lost first round up at Illinois he didn\u2019t compete as hard as he needed to win that match.\u00a0 Looking back on it and seeing what he has been able to do this spring, that\u2019s a big area of improvement that he has shown.\u00a0 Every single match that he\u2019s played, he\u2019s given his best effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to weather the storm and hang in there and keep fighting,\u201d said Scholtz on the difference this season. \u201cIf you just hang in there and then you get that one little break you win.\u00a0 That\u2019s something I\u2019ve learned to do this season, keep fighting.\u00a0 It\u2019s the guy who can hang in there and weather the storm a little longer when things aren\u2019t going well, until you get that break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joining Scholtz in Athens is someone quite familiar with winning an NCAA Championship. Devin Britton, who has served as the Rebels\u2019 student assistant this year while back in school finishing his degree, became the youngest NCAA Champion ever in 2009 as a freshman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to have him with us, because I have someone to room with and talk to besides coach, and also someone to practice with,\u201d Scholtz said. \u201cHe\u2019s been there before and he\u2019s been around here the last couple of years. He knows me.\u201d<\/p>\n

For updates throughout the NCAA Singles Championship, follow\u00a0@NCAATennis2014<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0@OleMissMTennis<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter.\u00a0 There will also be\u00a0live scoring and video<\/a>\u00a0for all matches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Miss.\u00a0\u2013 Last month, Nik Scholtz became the first Ole Miss men\u2019s tennis player to be named SEC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year during his career, and he hopes this time next week to add to that list of accomplishments with an NCAA title. The NCAA Singles Championship gets underway WednesdayRead the story …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nScholtz Seeks NCAA Title - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scholtz Seeks NCAA Title - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss.\u00a0\u2013 Last month, Nik Scholtz became the first Ole Miss men\u2019s tennis player to be named SEC Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year during his career, and he hopes this time next week to add to that list of accomplishments with an NCAA title. The NCAA Singles Championship gets underway WednesdayRead the story …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-09-23T13:25:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Nik-Sholtz-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OleMissRebels\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Ole Miss News\",\"description\":\"The official source for University of Mississippi news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Nik-Sholtz-300x168.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title\/\",\"name\":\"Scholtz Seeks NCAA Title - Ole Miss News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-23T13:25:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/b50d8227752a4bc15dc36f74488aca5d\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/scholtz-seeks-ncaa-title\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/b50d8227752a4bc15dc36f74488aca5d\",\"name\":\"whamilton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c89d29156b926a31c17485176d46ebdd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"whamilton\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36638,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36636\/revisions\/36638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}