Mississippi State men’s tennis saw its four-game Southeastern Conference winning streak snapped Friday evening in a 4-3 loss to No. 7 Tennessee, but the Bulldogs bounced back two days later and picked up a 4-2 road win over Auburn to stay in the mix for a top-16 national seed in the NCAA Tournament.
No. 14 MSU (16-6, 8-3 SEC) took the doubles point against the Volunteers (21-4, 10-1), with senior Carles Hernandez and junior Dusan Milanovic winning 6-1 and the top pairing of sophomores Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez coming out on top 6-3. Sanchez Martinez took his singles match 6-2, 6-3 to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead, and Hernandez put his team on the brink of victory with a 6-3, 6-3 win.
But Tennessee won the four remaining matches to spoil MSU’s Senior Day. Maleseveic put up a fight at No. 1 singles against the fourth-ranked player in the country, Johannus Monday, but lost the first set in a tiebreak and dropped the second set 6-3. The match came down to Jovanovic at No. 2, but the sophomore from Montenegro fell in three sets, 6-7(3), 7-5, 4-6.
The Bulldogs won their fourth consecutive road match Sunday against the Tigers (15-9, 5-5), again taking the doubles point thanks to Hernandez and Milanovic’s 6-2 win at No. 3 and Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez emerging victorious in a tiebreak. Jovanovic won the first completed singles match 6-2, 6-3, and after the next two points went to Auburn, Sanchez Martinez put MSU back in the lead with a 7-5, 6-2 victory.
Malesevic clinched the match after coming back from a set down, beating a top-50 individual opponent. The Bulldogs will be in third place in the SEC standings when they close out the regular season this coming Sunday at Arkansas.
“We are trusting our process daily and enjoying our journey together,” MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. “We have a lot of trust in each other and are taking care of the little things on and off the court. We’re excited to play another road match next weekend and look forward to another tough opponent.”
Women still winless in conference play with two matches left
The Bulldogs (10-14, 0-11 SEC) fell 7-0 at No. 7 Georgia on Friday and 6-1 at No. 18 Tennessee on Sunday.
MSU was unable to claim a set against UGA (15-4, 10-1), but against the Volunteers (15-6, 7-4), senior Chloé Cirotte won in a super-tiebreak at No. 2 singles for her 50th career singles win. Cirotte missed most of the 2023 season with a knee injury, and it was her first SEC singles victory since April 2022.
The Bulldogs conclude the regular season with two home matches this coming week, with Arkansas visiting Starkville on Friday and Missouri coming in Sunday. The Tigers are also still looking for their first SEC win.
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