Mississippi State men’s tennis remained competitive over the weekend against the gauntlet that is the Southeastern Conference. The No. 15 Bulldogs defeated Vanderbilt 5-2 at home on Friday before falling to No. 6 Kentucky by the same score on Sunday.
MSU (11-5, 3-2 SEC) took the doubles point against the Commodores (10-7, 1-4) as the No. 2 pairing of senior Carles Hernandez and junior Dusan Milanovic and the No. 3 duo of senior Nemanja Malesevic and sophomore Michal Novansky each won 6-3. Sophomore Petar Jovanovic, Hernandez and Milanovic all won their singles matches by dropping no more than two games in any set to quickly wrap up the match.
“I was happy with how we executed in doubles on all three courts,” head coach Matt Roberts said. “We served and returned really well and we’re getting better at putting volleys away at the net. I’m really happy with all the guys in singles. They were very locked in with a high level of focus and intensity. It shows that we had a really good week of practice. We applied some things today that we worked on throughout this week.”
The Bulldogs again won the doubles point against the Wildcats (14-2, 5-0). Jovanovic and sophomore Benito Sanchez Martinez claimed a 6-3 victory at the top doubles spot, and Malesevic and Novansky won 7-5 at No. 3. But Jovanovic, who dominated his opponent 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 singles, was the only MSU player to earn a point the rest of the way. Hernandez, freshman Radomir Tomic, Malesevic and Milanovic all fell in straight sets.
MSU is back on the road this week to battle No. 16 South Carolina on Friday and No. 25 Florida on Sunday.
Women still winless in conference play
The Bulldogs fell on the road, 4-2, against Kentucky on Friday and 6-1 at Vanderbilt two days later.
MSU’s top two singles players, fifth-year Alexandra Mikhailuk and junior Maria Rizzolo, both won their matches in three sets, but that was all the Bulldogs (9-8, 0-5 SEC) could muster against the Wildcats (7-7, 1-4). Senior Chloé Cirotte and freshman Jayna Clemens lost in a tiebreak at No. 2 doubles, and Cirotte, freshman Athina Pitta and sophomore Dharani Niroshan failed to win a set in their respective singles matches.
Rizzolo was the only MSU player to win her match against the Commodores (8-4, 3-2), doing so by winning the second set in a tiebreak. Pitta took her singles match to a third set and Niroshan pushed the second set to a tiebreak in her singles defeat.
The Bulldogs return home this week to take on No. 17 Alabama and No. 13 Auburn, and will also have a non-conference match Sunday afternoon against Mississippi Valley State.
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