Mississippi State earned its fifth straight win Saturday as the regular season nears its conclusion, with the No. 12 Bulldogs defeating Auburn 5-2 at home.
MSU remained perfect in doubles against Southeastern Conference opponents. Senior Dusan Milanovic and junior Michal Novansky earned a 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles to get things started, and the Bulldogs’ No. 1 duo of juniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez — ranked second nationally — also won 6-2 to clinch the doubles point.
Sanchez Martinez dominated his match at No. 1 singles, winning 6-1, 6-0 to give MSU a 2-0 lead. Sophomore Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes was nearly as thorough in his 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 5. Freshman Bryan Hernandez Cortes then wrapped it up at No. 6 with a 6-1, 6-4 win.
Jovanovic added a win in straight sets at No. 2 before the Tigers won the last two matches, beating Milanovic in a super-tiebreak at No. 4 and junior Mario Martinez Serrano at No. 3.
The singles win for Sanchez Martinez was his eighth in a row, and he and Jovanovic remained undefeated in SEC doubles play, moving into second in program history with 51 victories as a pairing. Hernandez Cortes clinched a victory for the first time in his college career. As a team, MSU finished 17-1 at home and a perfect 7-0 in conference home matches.
The Bulldogs (19-4, 9-3 SEC) close out the regular season at Ole Miss on Friday and at Alabama on Sunday. MSU is in third place in the SEC standings, even in the loss column with second-place South Carolina.
MSU women fall to No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 14 Texas
Due to weather conditions in College Station on Friday, the Bulldogs and second-ranked Aggies played only singles matches, and MSU was unable to win a set in any of the matches that counted toward the overall 4-0 score. Freshman Carolina Troiano had the unenviable task of facing Mary Stoiana, the second-ranked individual singles player, and she managed to take just one game.
Sophomore Jayna Clemens won the first set at No. 2 singles but was trailing in the second set when Texas A&M clinched the victory.
Back home two days later against the No. 14 Longhorns, the Bulldogs did strike first in doubles when freshman Gianna Oboniye and sophomore Athina Pitta earned a 6-4 win at No. 1. But freshmen Emma Cohen and Troiano came up short at No. 2, and Clemens and sophomore Chiara Di Genova fell in a tiebreaker at No. 3.
In singles, Oboniye dropped a lengthy first-set tiebreaker at No. 1 before falling in straight sets for the clinching Texas point. Both senior Alessia Tagliente and Di Genova were in the third set of their unfinished matches.
MSU (10-13, 0-13 SEC) is at No. 8 Oklahoma on Friday and at Arkansas on Sunday to finish out the regular season.
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