MSU tennis players set for championships
Mississippi State men's tennis sophomore Nuno Borges debuts at the 2017 NCAA Singles Championship today as the Bulldog seeks to continue his stellar season on the court.
Borges will open the competition as the No. 2 national seed, and is scheduled to take on No. 53 Adam Moundir of Old Dominion at 12:30 p.m. in first round action from the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. The University of Georgia will provide live stats and video at Georgiadogs.com.
Slotted fourth in the latest ITA National Singles Rakings, Borges vaulted to the No. 2 seed after TCU's Cameron Norrie (No. 1 seed) and Illinois' Aleks Vukic (No. 3 seed) withdrew from contention on Tuesday.
This season, Borges has earned one of the best campaigns in singles play for any Bulldog in program history. The sophomore has earned a 32-6 record overall, while going a staggering 20-3 at the No. 1 position and collected 22 ranked singles wins. The Bulldog also became the youngest player in program history to be chosen the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, while also earning All-SEC first team and SEC All-Tournament Team honors this season.
The Bulldogs last singles participant was Rishab Agarwal last season, who advanced to the second round of play in Tulsa, Okla. MSU's highest finish in the singles bracket has been the quarterfinals, with three appearances by Thomas Dupre (1998), Joc Simmons (1994) and Laurent Orsini (1994).
MSU will also be represented in the 32team NCAA Doubles Championship starting on Thursday, with No. 8 Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey set to make State's first appearance since 2014. The pair, seeded will face Princeton's 59th-ranked Alexander Day and Luke Gamble on Thursday.
This season, the tandem led the Bulldogs with a 19-13 record overall. Braun and Foshey earned 10 ranked wins as a pair, while also owning five wins over the current ITA Doubles Top 10. In addition to their ranked victories, the duo also clinched seven doubles points for MSU this year.
The last State pair to compete at the doubles championship was Jordan Angus and Malte Stropp in 2014, advancing all the way to the round of 16. The Bulldog duo of Laurent Miquelard and Joc Simmons won the national championship in 1994 after tallying five wins in South Bend, Ind.
“We're excited to watch these three continue their great seasons here in Athens,” MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. “Nuno, Nic and Trevor have been outstanding this season and it's a great reward for these guys to compete against the nation's best this week. We're looking forward to the opportunity of improving and developing against great competition.”