STARKVILLE — While serving as an assistant coach at Pepperdine University, Per Nilsson always followed results in the Southeastern Conference and tracked his alma mater, MSU.
While Pepperdine was in the midst of winning 17 straight West Conference titles and the 2006 national championship, Nilsson was saddened that his alma mater had fallen on hard times.
Being on a different coast, Nilsson didn’t know the reasons for the drop-off. However, he knew the program was underachieving and the potential wasn’t being realized. When the opportunity to return home presented itself in 2007, Nilsson didn’t have to think twice before giving an answer.
Slowly but surely, Nilsson, who is in his fifth season as MSU’s men’s tennis coach, has helped put the Bulldogs are back on the road to national prominence. With its highest regular season ranking in seven seasons, No. 14 MSU will take on Texas Christian University at 2 p.m. today in its home opener at the Pitts Tennis Centre on the MSU campus.
“I am pleased with where the program is headed,” Nilsson said. “I am most pleased other people are saying we are doing it the right way. When people you don’t know are talking about your program, recruits hear that. You want other people believing this is a place where you can come and play tennis at a very high level.”
Nilsson played at MSU from 1991-94. During his time there, the Lund, Sweden, native won 91 singles matches, which is seventh all-time at the school. As a junior, Nilsson won 16 dual matches while the Bulldogs won the 1993 SEC championship. A year later, Nilsson was co-captain on one of two MSU squads to reach the national semifinals. The 1994 squad finished a program-best third in the nation.
“A coach has a personal investment when they were part of the program,” MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin said. “Our program has always competed on the national level. Recently, we had periods where weren’t very good. Now, Per has us back at that level, and wants to do even better. He has dreams of winning a national championship and we share those dreams with him.”
In the 1990s, MSU never finished lower than 25th in the nation. In eight of those 10 seasons, the Bulldogs finished in the top 15. Coach Andy Jackson netted seven straight top-10 finishes from 1992-98.
With the lone exception of 2005, MSU men’s tennis spent the first decade of the new century going in the opposite direction. In his six seasons as coach, Sylvain Guichard finished better than fourth in the SEC’s Western Division once. The Bulldogs saw a string of 15 straight NCAA appearances end with the 2005 campaign.
Last season marked a turnaround. The Bulldogs finished 14-9 (8-3 SEC) and returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005. With a final ranking of No. 20, MSU finished in the top 20 for the first time since 2001. Last season’s Western Division championship was the first league title of some sort since the overall conference title in 1993.
“Last season, we were underdogs most of the time,” MSU senior Louis Cant said. “We were loose when we played really good teams. When you are loose, you play your best tennis. We had some big wins, and it showed what we are capable of doing when everybody plays their best.
“Going into this year, we know what we are able to accomplish.”
Last season included a couple of signature wins that showed the program is going in the right direction. MSU defeated No. 4 University of Tennessee in Starkville. It was the highest-ranked team MSU had beaten since a 2002 victory against then No. 4 University of Kentucky.
Two weeks later, an even sweeter win took place as MSU beat Ole Miss in Starkville, snapping a 26-match win streak in the series by the Rebels. While MSU has been napping, Ole Miss has won five SEC championships and made four NCAA Final Four appearances under veteran coach Billy Chadwick.
“We were able to change the dynamics of our program last season,” Nilsson said. “Beating Ole Miss was extremely important because of the rivalry and because of the national status of their program. We had some victories last year which brought us instant national respect.
“Now that we are ranked higher, we are getting cockier. That means we are playing tougher matches. In our second weekend of competition, we played (No. 3) Ohio State. The bad thing is we took a loss in that match. The good thing is we learned our preparation was not good enough. We learned we had to come back, practice better and work harder. Those are the types of teams we will face all season.”
MSU is 4-2 entering today’s match. It defeated UC Santa Barbara and Hawaii in a tournament in Honolulu. MSU then won at Michigan State before losing at Ohio State. Last weekend, MSU beat Princeton before falling to No. 11 Texas A&M in the ITA Kickoff Classic.
The non-conference schedule also includes a match against No. 21 Ole Miss in the River Hills Cup match in Jackson. MSU also will bring No. 2 Virginia to campus for a regular-season match. Inside the league, Georgia (No. 4), Florida (No. 5), and Kentucky (No. 7) are in the nation’s top 10 this week.
“I really don’t think my guys were ready (for the Ohio State match),” Nilsson said. “We were underdogs in a lot of matches last year, so it was pretty easy going out there, being fired up and hungry. Now, we will play a lot of teams ranked lower than us. My guys know how close we were to beating the top teams in the nation last year. You can get caught up in that. But those are the bonus matches.
“The important matches are the ones against the teams that you should beat. We have already seen that this season. We are playing opponents in the 40s and 50s and they are bringing everything at us. You have to win the matches you are supposed to win, to protect your ranking and to give yourself a chance. It is does not matter who is on the other side, we have to take care of our own business.”
A college tennis match consists of six singles matches (which count a point apiece) and three doubles matches (which combine to count for one point). The doubles matches are played first, and the team that wins two of the three matches earns a point.
While each player has a duty to win his own match, the importance of teamwork can’t be understated. Nilsson feels like that this is where his squad thrives.
“The most important thing is for each player to take care of their own court,” Nilsson said. “Nobody can come over there and help them win a match. What they can do is support and create energy. When someone is tight and not happy, they know they have five other guys out there battling with you. For players who have grown up playing tennis and playing by themselves in tournaments, this is a unique setting.
“It takes some getting used to, but then players eventually realize how much fun college tennis can be as a team sport.”
The togetherness also pays dividends on the court and in the classroom. Under Nilsson, MSU has had 17 players named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll. The most recent men’s tennis tea had a 3.85 grade-point average, which was the highest of the school’s varsity sports.
“Per holds his players accountable,” Stricklin said. “He brings in some excellent student-athletes. Then he and (assistant coach) Matt (Hill) do a wonderful job of helping these players reach their full potential. It can be difficult when players come from all over the world. However, they do a great job of running a fantastic program in every way possible.”
While the Bulldogs are a preseason pick to repeat as Western Division champions, the goals are much higher.
“I really like this team a lot,” Nilsson said. “However, our goal is not 14th or 15th in the nation. Our goal is to make the Final Four. Once you get in that grouping, anybody can win the national championship, and that is really what we want to do.”
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.