Raindrops were falling Saturday afternoon at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville.
So, instead of tennis being played, Mississippi State’s tennis players were huddled in a circle on the court one-touching a soccer ball in the air among them.
And they actually were pretty good. Nuno Borges, the top-ranked men’s singles tennis player in the country, moved quickly around, not letting the ball hit the ground as he tapped the ball to his teammates with his foot.
“That was on their own, figuring that out,” said MSU coach Matt Roberts, who was happy that the Bulldogs found a way to keep active during the second of two rain delays Saturday.
Not long afterward, Trevor Foshey’s shout echoed around the venue as he polished off a victory on Court 3 at 1:48 p.m.. He had needed just one winning shot against South Alabama’s Maxime Lapraille when the second rain delay hit.
A minute after that, Borges finished off his 6-3, 6-3 win against Sacha Modica at No. 1 singles.
And one minute later, Florian Boska ended the day when he delivered the match-clinching shot against Louis Delcour, completing a 6-3, 6-2 victory and sending the Bulldogs to the Super Regional portion of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships next week.
The Bulldogs topped Alabama State in Round 1 on Friday, then dodged pesky rain Saturday to defeat South Alabama, 4-0, for the second straight year in the NCAAs.
“Overall, I thought it was a great match,” Roberts said. “Give credit to South Alabama for playing some tough tennis yesterday and today. They’ve had a great year.”
The Bulldogs will be back home next week, hosting TCU in the Super Regional at 1 p.m. next Saturday. A win sends them to the elite eight.
“We have one more chance to play at home next weekend and it’s great,” Borges said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
And that is precisely what Roberts is looking forward to. It’s another week with his guys.
“It is another week of no school, just tennis, and having a lot of fun as a team,” Roberts said. “Just that is a reward, to be able to have a lot of team camaraderie.”
Such as, perhaps, playing soccer in the rain?
That was the only question Saturday, really. The time of the match was moved up more than two hours Saturday in an attempt to escape the rain. After two rain delays, preparations were being made to move the final part of the six singles matches to indoor courts, or even delay until Sunday.
The Bulldogs were within five shots of clinching the victory in the three singles matches that were near completion. They had begun the day by winning the doubles point with consecutive wins.
Suddenly, they caught a break. With rainclouds surrounding the campus, the rain just stopped. Only for about 10 minutes, but long enough.
“We had, like, a halo over this,” Roberts said.
While South Alabama’s team went inside, the Bulldogs hung out on the court, throwing a football and eventually kicking around the soccer ball. It allowed them to keep active.
“We were still kind of warm,” Borges said. “I take it as a lucky one.”
Paul Bowker is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
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