Mississippi State men’s tennis returned to its winning ways over the weekend with a 5-2 win Friday evening over North Florida and a 4-2 triumph Sunday against Virginia Commonwealth.
The Bulldogs dropped the doubles point against the Ospreys despite a 6-2 victory at No. 3 from Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes and Petar Jovanovic, but dominated in singles play. Jovanovic, bumped down from the top spot in the lineup to No. 2 singles, won his match in straight sets, as did Ferrer Guimaraes at No. 6, Dusan Milanovic at No. 4 and Carles Hernandez at No. 3.
“I just came into this season ready,” Hernandez said. “I was injured during the fall and came into things attacking every practice. I’ve been feeling good at practice and applying what I’ve been doing at practice. My tennis is there. I’m a good competitor. Some times I play better than others, but I feel like I compete well every day.”
Nemanja Malesevic, who did not compete in MSU’s 4-3 win at Memphis last Wednesday, returned to the No. 1 singles position he held most of last year and came back from a set down to win his match against North Florida.
Two days later, the Bulldogs avenged their Jan. 27 loss to the Rams by defeating VCU, and they got off to a fast start with a pair of decisive wins in doubles as the No. 2 team of Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez and the No. 3 duo of Ferrer Guimaraes and Malesevic each won 6-2. Milanovic and Sanchez Martinez each cruised in singles to put MSU ahead 3-0, and Malesevic clinched the victory with a second-set tiebreak win.
The Bulldogs (7-3) have one more non-conference match on Feb. 25 at Tulane before opening Southeastern Conference play on Mar. 3 at home against Georgia.
“It feels good that we’re doing some things better,” MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. “We’re just trying to evolve. We’re just trying to get better in every area like how we coach, give them information and prepare for the match. We’ve even changed our warm-up routine before the match. We’re just trying to evolve and get better so it’s good to see some reward for that.”
Bulldog women no longer unbeaten after loss at Memphis
On the road for the first time this season, MSU came up just short in a 4-3 defeat against the Tigers on Sunday.
The Bulldogs won the doubles point thanks to a 6-3 win at No. 1 from Alexandra Mikhailuk and Athina Pitta and a 6-4 victory at No. 3 from Dharani Niroshan and Alessia Tagliente. Niroshan picked up a straight-sets win in singles to extend the MSU lead, and Mikhailuk put the Bulldogs ahead 3-1 with a 6-4, 6-0 win. But Maria Rizzolo, Jayna Clemens and Tagliente all lost in a decisive third set — two of them in tiebreaks — to hand the overall victory to Memphis.
MSU is back in Starkville for three home matches this coming weekend, starting with Louisiana on Friday afternoon and continuing with Baylor and Bellarmine on Sunday.
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