Bulldog Bits
Men’s Tennis
Seeking to recapture the magic from last year’s postseason run, 18th-ranked Mississippi State (20-8) will take on 38th-ranked Southern Methodist (13-11) today to open NCAA action in Norman, Okla.
First serve between the Bulldogs and Mustangs is slated for 10 a.m., from the Headington Family Tennis Center. Soonersports.com will provide live stats for the match.
“We’ve had a great week of training and our guys are excited to compete on Friday,” MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. “SMU has a good team and has had a lot of success, so we will have to be on our best games and not give them anything. Our guys always battle, so (today) should be fun.”
SMU, the three seed for the Norman Regional, received one of the 31 at-large bids to the field of 64 after going 1311 in 2017.
The Bulldogs enter the NCAA Tournament playing some of their best tennis of the season after they advanced to the Southeastern Conference finals for the first time since 1996. MSU has earned eight wins against this season’s NCAA field, taking down Arkansas, Florida State, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas A&M (twice) and Tulane. One of the major reasons for those wins has been the stellar play of No. 4 Nuno Borges.
The sophomore, who was selected an All-American and SEC Player of the Year following the regular season, has built an impressive 31-6 singles record overall while also downing 21 ranked foes. The Bulldog has also provided an almost automatic win at the No. 1 spot in singles play, going an SEC-best 19-3 this year.
SMU has only won two ranked matches this season, while dropping 11. In those ranked matchups, the Mustangs have dropped seven of the doubles points. It will be key for MSU to get off to a good start and that has been the case for the Bulldogs this season as they have taken 16 doubles points this season. No. 8 Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey have taken seven of those, with Mate Cutura and Vaughn Hunter earning five for MSU.
Today’s match will feature a pair of 2016 NCAA Round of 16 participants as both the Bulldogs and the Mustangs reached Tulsa last season. SMU downed Washington and Texas Tech to punch its ticket, before falling to Florida. This season, the Mustangs have faced two SEC foes as SMU earned wins over Ole Miss and Arkansas.
If MSU should defeat SMU today, the Bulldogs will advance to Saturday’s second round matchup against host Oklahoma or Bryant at 11 a.m.