TULSA, Okla. — The Mississippi State men’s and women’s tennis teams will have three players compete today to the NCAA Singles Championship at the Michael Case Tennis Center.
Men’s tennis junior Rishab Agarwal, ranked 54th nationally, will play No. 109 Jack Findel-Hawkins, of North Florida, at 9 a.m. today. TulsaHurricane.com will provide live stats and video of the NCAA Individuals Championships.
If the junior wins today, he will face the winner of Aleks Vukic (Illinois) and Julian Cash (Oklahoma State) on Thursday. Agarwal can earn All-America status if he wins both matches.
Agarwal, a second-team All-Southeastern Conference pick, is 16-7 in dual matches and 21-12 in singles. Academically, the junior received the Elite 90 Academic Award from the NCAA last week to add to his SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year Award.
No. 34 Mate Cutura, MSU’s other at-large singles draw selection, pulled out of the NCAA Singles Championship after a shoulder injury.
On the women’s side, junior Jasmine Lee and senior Georgiana Patrasc will compete in the 64-player field. Ranked 13th and 36th, respectively, in the latest ITA National Singles Rankings, Lee and Patrasc will play today. Patrasc will take on Florida State’s 38th-ranked Daneika Borthwick at 9 a.m., while Lee will face Long Beach State’s No. 102 Maeva Razakasoa at 3:30 p.m.
Lee became MSU’s first ITA All-American in singles as a 9-16 seed in this year’s tournament. Named All-SEC First Team for the second season in a row, the Kaohsiung, Taiwan, native is 29-11 in singles and was 17-7 in dual match play at the top position for the Bulldogs, who reached the second round of the NCAAs as a team.
Patrasc earned her third conference award by being named All-SEC Second Team after posting an 18-4 dual-match record mainly at the No. 2 position. She was a team-leading 9-2 in SEC matches. Sporting a 27-8 overall record headed into this week’s action, Patrasc was honored as the ITA Southern Region Most Improved Senior after also earning her highest career rankings in April at 32nd in singles and 29th in doubles.
The two MSU players are each making their second appearance in the NCAA Singles Championship.
MSU also will be represented in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship on Thursday. MSU’s 30th-ranked duo of Madison Harrison and Kristina Vozniak will face Northwestern’s 28th-ranked pair of Alex Chatt and Maddie Lipp in the first round at a time to be announced. The MSU tandem posted a 6-6 record. Three of the wins were against opponents ranked in the top 40 nationally.
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.