STARKVILLE — Mate Cutura considers Zvonimir Babac a friend.
Now men’s tennis players in the Southeastern Conference, Cutura and Babac grew up competing against each other on the international stage, as Cutura is from Bosnia & Herzegovina, while Babac hails from Croatia.
These days, they don’t speak to each other.
It’s not that they no longer are friends or that they’ve grown apart. It’s a matter of where they go to school.
Cutura, a junior college transfer, plays for Mississippi State. Babac, a freshman, plays for Ole Miss.
“We are friends. We played junior tennis together, but there’s no reason for us to talk,” Cutura said. “He is there. I am here, so we are not in a position to be friendly.”
At 10 a.m. Friday, the two will be reunited, but the situation won’t be friendly. Instead, it likely will be an intense situation when MSU (9-3, 1-0 SEC) plays host to Ole Miss (9-2, 1-0) at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
For Matt Roberts, who is in his first year as MSU’s head coach, the match will give the Bulldogs a chance to continue their momentum.
“This one definitely has a little more impact than the other matches,” Roberts said. “It has always been that way with this rivalry in tennis. Going back to when this program was consistently top 10 in the country and Ole Miss was also up there, it has been a very intense rivalry. We are excited about the match. It’s always a big one.”
Senior Florian Lakat, who is No. 97 in the nation, is 8-2 as the Bulldogs’ No. 1 singles player. He also has won six of his nine doubles matches. Lakat believes the feeling is different when the Bulldogs and Rebels meet in tennis.
“Last year when we played them in Oxford, there were about 700 fans cheering against us,” Lakat said. “That’s an environment that challenges your focus. We won, and it was huge for our season. Any time we play them, it is a battle. We will fight, they will fight.”
MSU has designs on a 2-0 start in league play thanks to a 4-0 win last weekend at Alabama.
“That was a good win,” Roberts said. “At their place, all nine spots competed really well, did what we had to do to get a win.”
Every member of the roster has contributed to MSU’s fast start. The team of Tassilo Schmid and Cutura has won all eight of its dual matches and is 11-1. Juan Cruz Estevarena is 6-1, including a 4-0 mark at No. 3 singles, and Rishab Agarwal is 9-3, including 7-1 at No. 5. Julian Cash and Robin Haden are 5-1 as MSU’s No. 3 doubles team.
The Bulldogs are ranked 48th nationally in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s weekly rankings.
MSU will wrap up a busy weekend Saturday with a match against Arkansas. For now, the Bulldogs are focused on the Rebels.
“Rivalries make it fun,” Cutura said. “Whenever I was talking to coaches about coming here, they told me about the rivalry and how big it was. It’s fun to compete in matches like this.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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