STARKVILLE — The feeling never gets old for Mississippi State University men’s tennis coach Per Nilsson.
Even after qualifying for its third straight NCAA Regional tournament, seeing the words ‘Mississippi State’ revealed on the screen is still a thrill for the MSU alumnus as he hopes to take his team to the national round this season.
“The excitement of being selected is always the same but the feeling around our program is different,” Nilsson said. “The first time two years ago was about getting back in the tournament and last year it was about draw and how to get the round of 16, which we didn’t do.”
MSU was selected Tuesday as a host and a No. 10 national seed for the 2013 NCAA men’s tennis tournament and will host their four-team pod of the first and second rounds on May 10-11, at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. Last year was the Bulldogs (16-9) first time to host the first rounds of play since the NCAA field expanded to 64 teams in 1999. Nilsson is hoping to lead the program to the round of 16 for its first time since 2001.
Last season a senior-laden MSU squad lost at home in a second round match against Baylor University that lasted six hours, 42 minutes and involved a rain delay with the matches moved into McCarthy Gymnasium.
“It was such a different feeling last year hosting and not moving forward because the expectations were so high,” Nilsson said.
Nilsson said that MSU returning singles players Malte Stropp, James Chaudry and Zach White from that team that knows what it feels like to lose in the NCAA tournament at home will be beneficial.
“I think there was more pressure last year with all those veterans and maybe there’s less pressure on this group,” Nilsson said. “Last year was such a different year because of what we have to work with this season. I wouldn’t call it the most rewarding but it’s been the strangest season of my coaching career because of all the youth.”
The reason from the difference from this MSU squad is the freshmen Nilsson has in the lineup at the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 6 spots in the singles. Romain Bogaerts was named the Southeastern Conference freshman of the year last week and is currently ranked 10th in the nation, the highest he has been ranked all season.
“I’ve got some freshmen that aren’t scared and don’t feel like our freshman are scared,” Nilsson said. “They’re playing at a really high level right away and nothing is super new to them after qualifying for the national indoors tournament. That postseason prepares you for this NCAA event.”
Bogaerts has a 28-10 record this season and has won four of his last five completed matches in SEC play after arriving to MSU as one of the top junior tennis players from Belgium.
“I honestly didn’t know who would come forward even though I knew all four freshmen that we brought in were super talented,” Nilsson said. “I never thought somebody like Bogaerts would come in at play at number one singles in the Southeastern Conference.”
Nilsson said the loss to Baylor in the NCAAs came down to the unfortunate aspect that the groin injury suffered by sophomore Malte Stropp two weeks before the event wasn’t able to heal properly. Stropp lost both his doubles and singles match to the Bears.
“That’s two points out of the four they won,” Nilsson said after the loss. “(During the delay) we tried everything to get Malte even 50 percent healthy in the training room, but he just couldn’t move.”
Stropp has rebounded in his junior season to be awarded All-SEC second team honors after teaming up with freshman Jordan Angus this season to form the 12th-ranked doubles team in the nation, picking up nine wins in the spring. The duo took down Auburn University’s No. 1 team of Dan Cochrane and Andreas Mies earlier in dual match play, marking the first doubles victory against the nation’s No. 1 team for the Bulldogs since 2001.
Coming into Starkville as what would be the second-best team in the pod is Harvard University, the 2013 Ivy League champion. The Crimson captured their second-straight outright Ivy League title after winning 13 of their last 14 matches, including going 6-1 in conference play. Harvard will be making their second-consecutive NCAA Championship appearance and the 22nd in school history but the trip to Starkville will mark the first-ever by Harvard in any sport. Harvard coach Dave Fish and Nilsson are close friends to the point where MSU accepted an invitation to the 2010 Harvard Kickoff Tournament in Boston, Mass., where the Bulldogs defeated Harvard 4-2.
“I’m so excited that Harvard will be making its first ever trip to Mississippi State because they are such a traditional power in this sport and Dave Fish is a legend that is one of the great people in this game,” Nilsson said. “I do think as a fan of this sport, taking my team I coach out of it as much as I can, this will be a really entertaining regional.”
Harvard will open tourney play against Samford University, who captured the Southern Conference tourney title for the third time since 2008. MSU will play Austin Peay State University after the Governors won their first Ohio Valley Conference championship since 1974, earning them their first NCAA appearance in school history. APSU is 17-3 on the season and has won 17 of their last 18 matches, with the one conference loss coming to Tennessee Tech University, who MSU defeated 5-0 earlier this season. State is 6-0 all-time against the Governors.
Selections for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will be released Wednesday. Several Bulldogs hope to earn bids to the individual draws, including freshman Romain Bogaerts (No. 10 nationally) and junior Malte Stropp (No. 59 nationally). The 12th-ranked doubles squad of Jordan Angus and Stropp is expected to receive a bid as well.
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