STARKVILLE — Over the last decade, Matt Roberts has built arguably the most consistently successful program at Mississippi State and one of the strongest teams in the Southeastern Conference on an annual basis. And the 2025 roster is shaping up to be one of his best teams yet.
Coming off a 19-8 season and a trip to the NCAA round of 16 last spring, the Bulldogs have lofty goals, including earning a top-8 national seed and advancing to the NCAA Team Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in mid-May. The season begins Sunday afternoon at home with an indoor match against Samford.
Those goals are certainly not outside the realm of possibility. With seven returning players, two freshmen and one transfer, MSU is ranked No. 11 in the preseason poll and was picked to finish third in the SEC by the conference’s coaches, behind only newcomers Texas and Oklahoma.
“I want everyone controlling what they can control at a high level,” Roberts said. “I don’t really think much about rankings (or) what other people think of us. I’m just super focused on how we all get along, how we’re working well together, how we’re communicating and how they’re building themselves to be the best versions of themselves.”
The Bulldogs’ lone senior is Dusan Milanovic, who transferred last year from Presbyterian, but MSU still has plenty of experience. Junior Petar Jovanovic, an all-SEC first-team honoree last year, is the Bulldogs’ top singles player. In doubles, he and fellow junior Benito Sanchez Martinez reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships last spring and earned All-American status in the fall.
Jovanovic qualified for the NCAA Individual Championships in both singles and doubles in the fall, and he and Sanchez Martinez shared the singles crown at the ITA Southern Regionals at LSU in October.
“It was kind of all of a sudden, we started playing (well) together,” Jovanovic said. “We found we have good chemistry. He’s a lefty, I have a big serve, he’s there to clean up. We’re a really tough team to play against. That connection off the court, on the court, we have similar game styles, so that helps a lot. We understand each other and our tendencies, and that’s why we have good results.”
Milanovic played through an elbow injury last year but still had a winning dual record in singles and doubles, then rested during the fall season. Roberts expects him to be ready to start the spring at the No. 3 singles position, with Sanchez Martinez behind Jovanovic at No. 2. Milanovic is also likely to play at No. 3 doubles with junior Michal Novansky — Roberts said that duo earned a resounding win in practice Thursday over Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez.
Freshman Niccolo Baroni and junior Mario Martinez Serrano will play together at No. 2 doubles and take the No. 4 and 5 singles slots, respectively. Martinez Serrano, a transfer from Troy, earned first-team All-Sun Belt honors for the Trojans last year.
“I’ve been around the block for four years, second year at Mississippi State,” Milanovic said. “It’s not about one guy. Everyone brings something (to) the team. It’s all 10 of us. If some things happen that are not good for the team, of course I’m going to take the lead and try to solve those things.”
The No. 6 singles spot is still up in the air, and Roberts will use the next month of non-conference matches to figure out who should earn the right to play there. Novansky, sophomores Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes, Marshall Landry and Radomir Tomic and freshman Bryan Hernandez Cortes are all in the running.
The Bulldogs will not leave Starkville during non-conference play unless they make it to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Texas, which they can reach by winning the ITA Kickoff Weekend at Rula Tennis Pavilion on Jan. 25 and 26. MSU battles Pepperdine on the first day of that tournament and will play either North Carolina State or LSU the following day.
SEC play begins on Feb. 22 at Tennessee, with the conference home opener scheduled for Feb. 27 against LSU. South Carolina is hosting the SEC Tournament from April 16-20, and the NCAA Tournament will begin the first weekend of May.
Nine SEC teams are ranked in the preseason top 25, with Texas at No. 1 and Kentucky and Oklahoma also in the top 10.
“We want to compete with the best teams in the country,” Roberts said. “I think we have the team to do it. All those things will happen. We’re just trying to stay connected, really focus on the culture and how we’re working well together, making sure there’s not one person left out in any of our day-to-day routines. If we focus on those things and do those things well, good things are going to happen.”
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