Against a team with three top-40 singles players and a top-10 doubles team, No. 22 Mississippi State nearly earned a huge road win Thursday night. But No. 4 Texas had just too much firepower, defeating the Bulldogs 4-3.
MSU (12-3, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) won a hard-fought doubles point, starting with a 6-2 victory at the No. 3 spot from senior Dusan Milanovic and junior Michal Novansky.
The Longhorns (13-2, 4-0) earned a win at No. 2 from the 10th-ranked pairing in the country of Lucas Brown and Timo Legout, who defeated freshman Niccolo Baroni and junior Mario Martinez Serrano 6-3. But the Bulldogs took the lead in the match thanks to its top doubles team of juniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, ranked fourth in the nation, who won their match 6-3.
In singles, Sebastian Gorzny — the 13th-ranked individual nationally — defeated Jovanovic in straight sets at No. 2 to even the match for Texas. Martinez Serrano also fell in straight sets at the No. 5 spot, but Baroni tied things back up with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 3. Sophomore Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes won his match 6-2, 7-6(1) at No. 6 to give MSU the lead, then Milanovic fell 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 4 position.
Thus, the match came down to the No. 1 court, where Sanchez Martinez dropped the first set but won the second against Legout, ranked seventh in the country. Legout outlasted Sanchez Martinez 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to close things out for the Longhorns.
The Bulldogs return home Saturday for a match against No. 16 Oklahoma.
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