ATHENS, Ga. — Mississippi State men’s tennis sophomore Nuno Borges opens play today against No. 53 Adam Moundir of Old Dominion at 12:30 p.m. at the NCAA Singles Championship at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Georgia will provide live stats and video at Georgiadogs.com.
Borges will open the competition as the No. 2 national seed. Slotted fourth in the latest ITA National singles rankings, Borges vaulted to the No. 2 seed after TCU’s Cameron Norrie (No. 1 seed) and Illinois’ Aleks Vukic (No. 3 seed) withdrew from contention Tuesday.
Borges has earned one of the best campaigns in singles play for any Bulldog in program history. The sophomore is 32-6, including 20-3 at the No. 1 position. He has 22 ranked singles wins. The Bulldog also became the youngest player in program history to be named the SEC Player of the Year. He also earned first-team All-Southeastern Conference and SEC All-tournament Team honors.
The Bulldogs last singles participant was Rishab Agarwal last season, who advanced to the second round of play in Tulsa, Okla. MSU’s highest finish in the singles bracket has been the quarterfinals, with three appearances by Thomas Dupre (1998), Joc Simmons (1994), and Laurent Orsini (1994).
MSU also will be represented in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship, which starts Thursday. No. 8 Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey will face Princeton’s 59th-ranked Alexander Day and Luke Gamble.
Braun and Foshey went 19-13 with 10 ranked wins. They own five wins against current Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) doubles top 10.
The last MSU pair to compete at the doubles championship was Jordan Angus and Malte Stropp in 2014, advancing all the way to the round of 16. The Bulldog pair of Laurent Miquelard and Joc Simmons won the national championship in 1994.
“We’re excited to watch these three continue their great seasons,” MSU coach Matt Roberts said. “Nuno, Nic, and Trevor have been outstanding this season, and it’s a great reward for these guys to compete against the nation’s best this week. We’re looking forward to the opportunity of improving and developing against great competition.”
n MSU’s No. 7 Lee opens play in NCAA Singles Championship: Making her third consecutive NCAA Individual appearance, Mississippi State women’s tennis senior Jasmine Lee will take on Southern California’s 33rd-ranked Jessica Failla in her opening-round match at 9 a.m. today in the NCAA Singles Championship.
Lee, who is ranked seventh in the latest ITA National Singles Rankings, looks to better her quarterfinal finish from last season’s NCAA Singles Championship.
Lee is the first MSU women’s tennis player to earn multiple ITA All-America honors. Named first-team All-SEC for the third season in a row, the Kaohsiung, Taiwan, native is 23-6 and was 19-3 in dual match play at the top position for the Bulldogs. Lee was also named the ITA’s Southern Region Senior Player of the Year.
Lee will team with Lisa Marie Rioux in the NCAA Doubles Championship, which starts Thursday. The second-ranked duo of Lee and Rioux will face Kansas’ 37th-ranked Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum and Nina Khmelnitckaia in the first round at a time to be announced. The MSU tandem posted a 24-5 record, which includes 10 wins against ranked opponents.
Lee and Rioux are the first MSU duo since 1989 NCAA Doubles Champions Jackie Holden and Claire Pollard to earn ITA All-America honors in doubles.
n Ole Miss men, women set to begin play at NCAA Individual Championships: Gustav Hansson will compete in singles and Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton will participate in the doubles for Ole Miss.
Hansson, ranked No. 23 nationally, will make his second-consecutive appearance in the singles and will face No. 24 ranked Spencer Papa of Oklahoma in the first round at 10 a.m. today.
Fallert and Hamilton are competing in the NCAA Doubles Championship for the first time and will go up against Mason Dragos and Mikheil Khmiadashvili of Butler in the first round Thursday. Times for the doubles will be announced Wednesday.
On the women’s side, junior Arianne Hartono will compete in singles and in doubles with freshman Alexa Bortles.
Hartono, ranked No. 27 nationally, will make her second-straight singles appearance and will face No. 34 ranked Maegan Manasse of California at 8 a.m. today. Hartono and Bortles will play No. 17 ranked Julia O’Loughlin and Maureen Slattery of Denver on Thursday. Times for the doubles will be announced Wednesday.
n Alabama women set for action at NCAAs: Senior Erin Routliffe and freshman Maddie Pothoff will represent the Alabama women’s tennis team at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships.
Routliffe is scheduled to face Meible Chi of Duke in the first round of the singles draw at 10:30 a.m. today. In the first round of doubles Thursday, Routliffe and Pothoff will square off against Stanford’s Emily Arbuthnott and Taylor Davidson at a time that still has yet to be determined.
Routliffe, a two-time NCAA doubles champion and a four-time first team All-SEC accolade winner, is making her third-consecutive appearance in the singles championship. She is ranked No. 13 in singles in the ITA rankings, playing all of her matches from the top position in singles and doubles. During the 2016-17 campaign, she registered seven wins against nationally ranked singles opponents. Routliffe leads the team for the most doubles wins in dual-match play with 13.
Pothoff and Routliffe are a No. 5-8 seed in the doubles bracket, giving the pair ITA All-America honors. The duo is ranked No. 5 nationally. The team has five victories against nationally ranked doubles opponents in the spring.
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