Men's Tennis

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Propelled by a boost of momentum in singles action, the 18th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team surged past 19th-ranked South Carolina as the Bulldogs took a 4-1 decision over the Gamecocks.

With the win, MSU advances to the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals, where the Bulldogs will face No. 11 Texas A&M today at noon. UTsports.com will provide live stats and video.

“We knew this match was going to be a battle,” MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. “We respect South Carolina so much, because they fight for everything and never give up. I'm proud of our effort and how we battled on every single court. Every guy was supportive and there for each other, which is what I love about this team.”

The victory improved MSU's record to 19-7 this season, while South Carolina fell to 20-6 for the year.

Doubles play began with the Bulldogs and Gamecocks trading a pair of 6-1 decisions as Mate Cutura and Vaughn Hunter defeated Alex Fennel and Thomas Mayronne, while No. 9 Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey lost a ranked matchup to No. 18 Yancy Dennis and Harrison O'Keefe. A tight affair on court three decided the doubles point, as Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic outlasted South Carolina's tandem of Gabriel Friedrich and Andrew Schafer in a tiebreaker 7-6(6).

“It's great to see Nuno and Strale get revenge on a team that beat them in the regular season,” Roberts said. “They did a good job communicating during the match and setting up their plays. They were so clutch for us and we needed that doubles point because we knew it would be a battle in singles.”

After a marathon doubles session, the Gamecocks surged back to take four of the first six sets in singles play. South Carolina grabbed a win on court two after No. 52 Gabriel Friedrich downed Cutura 7-6, 6-3 to even the match at 1-1.

“We had a slow start in singles, but our guys held tough and didn't cave in,” Roberts said. “We knew we had to hold off their push, and it eventually starting falling our way.”

Borges was the first to make a push as the sophomore bounced back to take his second set, the surge was contagious as Rakic also forced a third set. Borges wrestled the match away from No. 67 O'Keefe as he took the third set, 6-0.

The ranked win for Borges was his 20th of the season as the sophomore improved to 30-5 overall this season.

Following Borges' victory on court one, the floodgates opened for the Bulldogs as Rakic and Giovanni Oradini took back-to-back matches. Rakic downed Schafer 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Oradini clichéd MSU's win after a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Braun and Foshey's matches were suspended in the third set, with Braun tied 1-1 and Foshey trailing 2-3.

Softball

AUBURN, Ala. – It was a battle to the very end Friday night, but the Mississippi State Bulldogs (34-16, 8-11 Southeastern Conference) fell in a tight 4-2 decision to the No. 9 Auburn Tigers (41-8, 13-6 SEC) in game one of the series.

Caroline Seitz, Bevia Robinson and Sarai Niu paced MSU's offense for the night. Seitz's seventh homer of the year gave State an early 2-0 lead, while Robinson and Niu each tallied two hits against the Tigers. Olivia Golden also had a base knock, singling in the fourth.

Robinson now has a team-high 14 multi-hit games this year, while Niu turned in her eighth of the season.

Seitz's two-run blast off the foul pole in left field opened up the scoring for the night. She now has 35 career bombs, putting her two shy of former Bulldog All-American Iyhia McMichael (2001-04) for second place on State's all-time homers list. Her hot streak continues, as she has now driven in 21 runs in her last 10 games.

Despite MSU taking the early lead, the home team fired back quickly, plating two in the bottom half of the third to tie things up at 2-2. A bases-loaded walk pushed in the first run, with the second coming on an MSU fielding error.

The Tigers added two more an inning later, when a single and an error on a bases-loaded situation pushed the Auburn lead to 4-2.

After the fourth, game one turned into a defensive contest, with neither side able to break through. State got the leadoff batter on in the fifth and two on in the seventh, but Auburn was able to fight off MSU's rally to seal a 4-2 seriesopening win.

MSU and No. 9 Auburn will return to action today for a 6 p.m. showdown. Fans can catch the action online on SEC Network + through WatchESPN.com or the ESPN app.

Track and Field

BATON ROUGE, La. – All-American Logan Boss continued the torrid pace she has been on throughout the 2017 campaign, winning the high jump competition at the Southeastern Conference Relays Friday with a jump of 1.85 meters.

Boss, who captured fourth at the indoor NCAA Championships last March, currently leads the nation with a season-best 1.89 meters, which she set in Tuscaloosa earlier in April.

The women's 4x800 meter relay team grabbed a second place, with Emma Tucker, Rhianwedd Price, Alon Lewis and Ffion Price running a time of 8:39.06. Keturah Smith posted the fourth best 400-meter dash time in school history in a second place finish, running 53.03.

On the men's side, Stephan James ran 46.35 for a fourth place finish. The men's 4x800 meter relay group of Rasheed Tatham, Freddie Jackson, Daniel Nixon and Caden Foos ran 7:40.70 for a third place finish.

“Logan is having such a fantastic season, and we are really happy to see her accomplishing the goals she set for herself,” MSU coach Steve Dudley said. “She has been so dominant all year. We hope she will be able continue this trend with SEC's and Nationals just around the corner.”