After nearly two full weeks of rest, Mississippi State men’s tennis opened Southeastern Conference play Saturday with a 4-3 win at No. 16 Tennessee before falling 4-2 on Monday at Kentucky.
The Bulldogs No. 3 doubles team of senior Dusan Milanovic and junior Michal Novansky started things off with a 6-2 victory against the Volunteers, and MSU’s top duo of juniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez — ranked 10th nationally — clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win.
Freshmen Niccolo Baroni and Bryan Hernandez Cortes both won their singles matches in straight sets to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead in the match. Jovanovic, up against the 16th-ranked singles player in the country at No. 1, pushed Shunsuke Mitsui to a first-set tiebreak but came up short. Junior Mario Martinez Serrano then wrapped up the match for MSU at No. 5 singles, winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
“Proud of the boys today,” Bulldogs head coach Matt Roberts said. “It’s never easy on the road in the SEC and Tennessee always fights so well. A few guys who stood out to me were the new additions to the squad this year. Niccolo and Bryan being freshmen on the road handling their courts as well as they did, and of course Mario staying composed and focused to get the clinch.”
MSU again took the doubles point against the Wildcats despite a loss from Milanovic and Novansky at the No. 3 spot. Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez earned another 6-4 victory at No. 1, and Baroni and Martinez Serrano pulled it out at No. 2 in a 9-7 tiebreak.
But singles play was not as kind to the Bulldogs. Jovanovic, Baroni and Milanovic each dropped the first set in a tiebreak and then fell short in the second set as MSU fell behind 3-1. Sanchez Martinez kept the visitors alive with a 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 win at the No. 2 spot before Kentucky closed it out with a straight-sets win over Hernandez Cortes at No. 6.
The Bulldogs (11-2, 1-1 SEC) return home Thursday to face LSU.
Women start 9-0 before dropping SEC opener
MSU defeated South Alabama 4-2 on Friday to win its ninth straight match to open the season, the best start in program history. The Bulldogs then lost 4-0 at No. 21 Alabama on Sunday in its first SEC match.
Freshman Emma Cohen and senior Alessia Tagliente kicked off the match against the Jaguars with a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles. MSU’s top team of freshman Gianna Oboniye and sophomore Athina Pitta lost, but the No. 3 pairing of sophomores Jayna Clemens and Chiara Di Genova won 7-5 to clinch the first point for the Bulldogs.
Clemens, Oboniye and Tagliente all won in singles, each remaining perfect in dual match play.
“Everyone is working very hard,” Tagliente said. “We are doing all the right things, and it’s been nice to see that all of our hard work we do daily is starting to pay off.
Things did not go as well two days later in Tuscaloosa as the Crimson Tide won every completed set in both doubles and singles. Oboniye retired from her singles match after dropping the first four games, and senior Maria Rizzolo and Tagliente were each quickly dispatched.
MSU (9-1, 0-1) is at Vanderbilt on Friday and at Missouri on Sunday. The Bulldogs’ lone conference win last season came against the Tigers.
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