As Tennessee’s Timo Stodder shoved a ball wide to give Mississippi State senior Nuno Borges a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory at No. 1 singles in the Southeastern Conference Championship title match, Borges dropped his racquet.
With his arms spread wide apart, he awaited a celebratory embrace from his teammates gathered just off the doubles alley at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Florida.
On the corner of the court, Borges was met with an onslaught of hugs and high-fives.
Twice felt nice.
For the second year in a row, the MSU men’s tennis team had won the SEC Championship after defeating Tennessee 4-1 in the title match.
“Winning today just confirms that what we’re doing is the right thing to do, the right way to do it,” MSU coach Matt Roberts said.
It was a dominating performance from start to finish for the Bulldogs.
MSU jumped to a quick 1-0 lead after securing the doubles point with little resistance.
Junior Giovanni Oradini and senior Niclas Bran took down Tennessee’s Pat Harper and Andrew Rogers 6-2, while freshman Gregor Ramskogler and senior Trevor Foshey defeated Scott Jones and Adam Walton by the same score.
In singles, Strahinja Rakic battled through a tightly contested 6-3, 7-5 win over Jones at No. 3 for his second individual win in as many days.
“He’s playing with the most confidence he’s ever played with,” Robert said of Rakic.
Foshey faced little pushback at No. 5 singles, handling Martim Prata 6-4, 6-3.
With MSU leading 3-1, eyes turned toward Borges’ match.
A grinder by nature, the two-time reigning SEC Player of the Year dropped the first set, before rebounding in the second to force a decisive third.
Point after point, shot after shot, Borges wore down his orange and white-clad counterpart with a flurry of long, physical points.
Stodder finally broke down in the ninth game of the set, spraying that aforementioned shot wide to hand Borges and MSU the win.
As the on-court celebrations persisted, Borges and his fellow seniors gathered in a circle, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders.
Borges, Rakic, Foshey and Bran were originally part of seven-man class. They are the only four that remain.
In four years, the group has combined for 265 singles victories, won two SEC Championships and reached both the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight.
Next on that list? A national title.
“Moving forward those seniors want to keep going, want to keep achieving stuff that we have not ever had in our program,” Roberts said. “National championships, Final Fours — we want to get that.”
Ranked No. 3 in the country, MSU is slated to host a regional in the new NCAA tournament format that mimics that of the NCAA baseball postseason.
The Bulldogs will officially learn their fate at 6 p.m. April 29 during the NCAA.com Selection Show.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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