Mississippi State continued its climb up the Southeastern Conference standings Thursday as the No. 12 Bulldogs defeated No. 13 Texas A&M 6-1 at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
“The energy from the crowd today was awesome,” MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. “Them being able to join our guys in chants created an atmosphere that makes it tough for our opponents to feel comfortable. Today the fans were so engaged with what was going on, every court, and they followed along with every chant that our guys were creating. It just created such a great atmosphere and really helped us get this win.”
The Bulldogs (18-4, 8-3 SEC) again won the doubles point, like they have in every conference match this year. Juniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, now the second-ranked pairing in the country, won 6-1 at No. 1 over the Aggies’ 21st-ranked duo. Freshman Bryan Hernandez Cortes and junior Mario Martinez Serrano won in a tiebreak at No. 3 as MSU clinched the first point of the match.
Senior Dusan Milanovic won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4 singles, then Sanchez Martinez earned a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory at No. 1. Jovanovic wrapped things up at No. 2 with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win.
The remaining matches were played out, and Martinez Serrano won his match at No. 3 when his opponent retired midway through the second set. Hernandez Cortes won in three sets at No. 6, but Texas A&M (15-7, 8-3) avoided the shutout with sophomore Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes losing in three sets at No. 5.
The Bulldogs improved to 16-1 at home and 6-0 in SEC home matches. Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez are now 9-0 as a doubles team in conference play and earned their 50th career win overall, tying them for second in program history. Sanchez Martinez has also won seven straight singles matches.
MSU is back in action Saturday at home against Auburn.
“As the head coach, I knew this was a chance for us to face some adversity and make us feel stronger about our team,” Roberts said. “We showed how tough we are from top to bottom. Guys stepped up. Bryan stepped up in doubles and again in singles. Other guys moved up a spot. We accepted it as a great challenge, to go out there and trust (ourselves) and just play. That’s what everyone did.”
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