Mississippi State men’s tennis continued to climb up the Southeastern Conference standings with a pair of 4-3 road wins, as the No. 19 Bulldogs edged No. 16 South Carolina on Friday and then defeated Florida on Sunday.
The Bulldogs (13-5, 5-2 SEC) took the doubles point against the Gamecocks (10-9, 3-4) thanks to a 6-1 victory from the No. 1 team of sophomores Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, and a 6-3 triumph at No. 3 from senior Nemanja Malesevic and sophomore Michal Novansky. South Carolina won the first three completed singles matches, though, putting MSU in a 3-1 hole.
Sanchez Martinez clinched his match at No. 5 singles with a second-set tiebreak, then Jovanovic evened the overall score with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 2. That left everything up to junior Dusan Milanovic at No. 4, and the Presbyterian transfer delivered by winning two very tight sets to clinch the victory for the Bulldogs.
MSU dropped the doubles point against the Gators (9-9, 3-5) despite a 7-5 win from Malesevic and Novansky, but the Bulldogs soon took a 3-1 lead with straight-set wins in singles by Sanchez Martinez, Jovanovic and Malesevic. Milanovic lost his match in straight sets and freshman Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes fell in three sets, putting the result on the shoulders of senior Carles Hernandez at No. 3.
Hernandez delivered, coming back from a set down and taking the third set in a tiebreak to hand the Bulldogs another tight victory.
MSU returns home this week to take on Ole Miss on Friday and Alabama on Sunday.
Women remain winless in conference play, but snap skid against Delta Devils
The Bulldogs (10-10, 0-7 SEC) were shut out at home by No. 21 Alabama on Friday and No. 18 Auburn on Sunday, before blanking Mississippi Valley State later Sunday.
In the loss to the Crimson Tide (14-4, 5-3), MSU’s top doubles team of fifth-year Alexandra Mikhailuk and freshman Athina Pitta won 6-0 against the No. 7 ranked pair in the nation, Alabama’s Loudmilla Bencheikh and Anne Marie Hiser. But that was all the Bulldogs could manage. Mikhailuk was on the verge of winning her singles match over Bencheikh in straight sets and junior Alessia Tagliente had a third-set lead when Alabama clinched the victory.
Against the Tigers (12-7, 6-2), MSU took just one game in the two completed doubles matches and again was unable to win a set in singles. Mikhailuk had a one-set lead when play was halted, and junior Maria Rizzolo was in the third set at the No. 2 position when Auburn wrapped things up.
Only singles matches were played against the Delta Devils (0-9), and the Bulldogs did not even drop a game. Mikhailuk, Rizzolo, Pitta and sophomore Dharani Niroshan all won 6-0, 6-0, and both freshman Jayna Clemens and Tagliente were one game away from doing the same when the match was clinched.
MSU hits the road this week to battle No. 12 Florida on Friday and No. 15 South Carolina on Sunday.
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