Mississippi State men’s tennis closed out non-conference play on a positive note Sunday, with the No. 13 Bulldogs shutting out both Memphis and Jackson State at home.

The No. 1 doubles team of juniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, ranked 12th in the country, clinched the opening point against Memphis with a 6-1 victory. That came after MSU’s No. 3 pairing of senior Dusan Milanovic and junior Michal Novansky earned a 6-0 win.

In singles, sophomore Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes started things off with a quick 6-1, 6-0 win at the sixth position, and freshman Niccolo Baroni also made quick work of his opponent at No. 4. Junior Mario Martinez Serrano clinched the match by winning in straight sets at No. 5. Milanovic secured a win with a second-set tiebreak at No. 3, and Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez each won via a super-tiebreak to complete the shutout.

“We use each match as feedback for areas we can improve, and our non-conference schedule was great feedback for where we are as a team,” Bulldogs head coach Matt Roberts said. “The guys love getting better and applying what they learned from matches on the weekend. This team is a lot of fun.”

Jackson State had just five players available, so MSU earned an automatic point in singles and needed just one win to clinch the doubles point. Baroni and Martinez Serrano got that win easily, 6-1, at No. 2 doubles. The Bulldogs then cruised in singles, with freshman Bryan Hernandez Cortes getting the start at the No. 2 position and pulling out a tight first set before rolling in the second.

MSU (10-1) has the coming week off before opening Southeastern Conference play on Feb. 22 at No. 16 Tennessee and at No. 8 Kentucky two days later.

“We meet as a team early in the week and get a game plan together on how we can improve,” Roberts said. “Nothing changes for us now as we head into SEC play. We are going to keep working very hard and focus on what we can control day-to-day to improve.”

Bulldog women remain undefeated

With wins Friday over Memphis and Alcorn State, MSU (8-0) has won its first eight matches of the season for the first time in four years.

Against the Tigers, the Bulldogs fell behind early in doubles with a loss at No. 2 from seniors Maria Rizzolo and Alessia Tagliente, but freshman Gianna Oboniye and sophomore Athina Pitta won 6-3 at the No. 1 position and sophomores Jayna Clemens and Chiara Di Genova earned a 6-4 victory at No. 3.

Tagliente won in straight sets at No. 3 singles, although Pitta and Di Genova both lost as Memphis evened the match at 2-2. Oboniye, at No. 1, rallied from a set down to win in three sets, and Clemens took a decisive third set at No. 6 to clinch the match for MSU.

“Everyone has grown so much and everyone is a fighter,” Clemens said. “That helped me pull out my match against Memphis. Just being in the position to clinch, I had so much fire and was not going to lose. I wanted to win so badly for my team. I’m really proud of everyone.”

All three Bulldog doubles teams won 6-0 against Alcorn State, and all six singles players won handily as well, with nobody dropping more than three games total across both sets.

After the dominating victory, MSU has a week off before hosting South Alabama and Mississippi Valley State on Feb. 21. The Bulldogs then open SEC play on Feb. 23 at Alabama.

“We’ve got to keep building on a foundation before we get to where we want to get to,” head coach Chris Hooshyar said. “We want to be a top program. I saw that our team has made a step in the right direction over the last year and a half. We’ve got a team full of fighters. Our emotional intelligence and resiliency on court is getting better.”