ATHENS, Ga. — Mississippi State saw one of its top-10 seeded players advance, while Ole Miss saw both of its players move on and Alabama had its only representative lose Wednesday in the first round of the NCAA Tennis Singles Championship at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Sophomore and second-seeded Nuno Borges defeated Old Dominion’s 53rd-ranked Adam Moundir, 6-3, 7-5 to set up a match against Notre Dame’s Josh Hagar, who beat Northwestern’s Konrad Zieba, today.
“Nuno had a great start today and we’re happy with how he battled against a good opponent,” MSU coach Matt Roberts said. “Moundir plays big and we tried to get him on the run which was difficult with how Moundir was playing. He went up a break in the second set and Nuno did a great job of coming back to finish off the match strong.”
With the win, Borges improved to 33-6 and earned his 23rd ranked victory of the season. Borges also moved into a tie with Thomas Dupre (1996) for fifth most wins in a season at MSU.
Borges controlling the match early and rolled in the first set. The second set was much tighter as each player held serve to 4-4. Moundir recorded the first break of the set to take a 5-4 lead, but Borges took 12 of the final 13 points to seal the win.
The No. 8 MSU pair of Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey will begin its run at the NCAA Doubles Championship today against No. 59 Alexander Day and Luke Gamble of Princeton.
On the women’s side, senior Jasmine Lee, who was ranked No. 7 and seeded, lost to USC’s 33rd-ranked Jessica Failla 6-4, 6-1.
Lee finished the season 23-7 and her career with a 72-27 record in singles. Of her 72 victories, 43 were against ranked opponents. All 27 setbacks were against ranked opponents. Her 72 victories tie her for second in the MSU record book for career singles wins. Her winning percentage of .727 gives her sole possession of first place in that category.
Lee became MSU’s first singles Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American in 2016 as a 9-16 seed in the NCAAs and bettered that this year as the No. 7 seed, becoming MSU’s first two-time All-American. Last season, Lee became the first MSU women’s singles player to advance to the NCAA Singles quarterfinals, and the first MSU men’s or women’s player to do so since Bulldog Thomas Dupre in 1998.
Lee and freshman Lisa Marie Rioux will represent MSU in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship. The second-ranked and seeded duo will face Kansas’ 37th-ranked Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum and Nina Khmelnitckaia today in the first round. Lee and Rioux are 24-5 this season. They are the first MSU duo since 1989 NCAA Doubles champions Jackie Holden and Claire Pollard to earn ITA All-America honors in doubles.
For Ole Miss, junior Gustav Hansson defeated Oklahoma’s No. 24 Spencer Papa 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the second round to face Kentucky’s William Bushamuka.
“Gus played a really solid match,” Ole Miss coach Toby Hansson said. “He served well and had good depth on his ground strokes. Gus looked very balanced and focused through the entire match today. Once Gus rallied to break Papa early in the second set, he never looked back on his way to a great first-round win.”
This is the 24th-consecutive year the Rebels will have a representative in the NCAA Individual Championships.
Hansson (21-12) advanced to the second round for the second year in a row.
The doubles team of Fabian Fallert and Grey Hamilton will play today against Butler’s Mason Dragos and Mikheil Khmiadashvili.
On the women’s side, junior Arianne Hartono beat California’s 34th-ranked Maegan Manasse 6-2, 6-3.
“Great win for Ari over a very experienced player, who has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation,” Ole Miss coach Mark Beyers said. “Jason (Ontog — associate head coach) had a great game plan for Ari and she executed the game plan very well.”
In the first meeting between the All-Americans in singles, No. 27 ranked Hartono (20-14) gained an early break in the first set and cruised. She took a 3-1 in the second set before both players traded breaks. Hartono got the last break to go up 5-3 and then served it out.
Hartono will face Miami freshman Estela Perez-Somarriba, who is ranked No. 40 with a 30-6 record, today.
Hartono and freshman Alexa Bortles will begin their doubles quest today against No. 17 ranked Julia O’Loughlin and Maureen Slattery of Denver
For Alabama, senior Erin Routliffe, who is ranked No. 13, lost to Duke’s No 43 ranked Meible Chi 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.
Chi held her first serve and broke Routliffe to take a 2-0 lead in the first set. Routliffe tied the match before Chi rattled off four-straight points.
In the second set, Chi won three of the first four points to take an early advantage. Both players held their serve over the next four points. Chi then held serve to claim the victory.
Routliffe and freshman Maddie Pothoff will take on Stanford’s Emily Arbuthnott and Taylor Davidson today in the first round of doubles.
Alabama has been represented in the NCAA individual tournament each of the last eight years, and in the singles and doubles tournament in the same season seven times.
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