For the second straight season, Mississippi State’s men’s tennis team is headed to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tennis Championships.
On Saturday, the No. 6 Bulldogs (25-5) showcased their poise in clutch moments and defeated No. 12 Georgia 4-1 in the Starkville Super Regional at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre to punch their ticket to Athens, Ga, for the final eight matches.
State rallied from a first set loss in tandem play to claim the doubles point in its third straight tournament match. Bryan Hernandez Cortes and Petar Jovanovic took down Georgia’s Derrick Chen and Noah Johnston, 6-2, and MSU’s Mario Martinez Serrano and Niccolo Baroni bested Gabriele Vulpitta and Will Jansen, 6-4, for the 1-0 lead.
Cortes carried over the momentum into singles and got things going with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Vulpitta for his 12th straight victory, and Vaksmann defeated Derrick Chen, 6-4, 6-2, to help the home Bulldogs win two of the first three matches. Martinez delivered the winning blow for MSU with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Azkara.
State’s win improves its all-time record in the NCAA Tournament to 41-30 and its record in the Starkville Regional to 13-1. MSU will take on No. 5 Virginia (25-4) on Thursday for a trip to the semifinals.
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