Sophomore Petar Jovanovic saved Mississippi State from a shutout, but the No. 16 seed Bulldogs saw their season come to an end in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday at the hands of No. 1 seed Ohio State with a 4-1 loss in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
The day started out promisingly for MSU (19-8) as senior Carles Hernandez and junior Dusan Milanovic won 6-1 at No. 2 doubles against a Buckeyes pairing ranked in the top 50 nationally.
The Bulldogs could not secure the opening point, though, as senior Nemanja Malesevic and sophomore Michal Novansky fell 6-2 at No. 3. Jovanovic and sophomore Benito Sanchez Martinez, the 11th-ranked doubles team in the country, also fell 6-2 at the No. 1 spot against the third-ranked duo of JJ Tracy and Robert Cash for Ohio State.
Malesevic and freshman Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes each lost in straight sets in singles to put MSU on the brink of defeat, but Jovanovic kept them alive with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Cannon Kingsley, the No. 17 ranked player in the nation. The Buckeyes (33-1) wrapped things up when Sanchez Martinez was unable to pull out a second-set tiebreaker.
The season is not over for Jovanovic, Malesevic and Sanchez Martinez, who will head to Stillwater, Okla. for the NCAA Individual Championships from May 22-25. Jovanovic and Malesevic will compete in singles, and Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez will compete as a team in doubles.
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