MSU men win tennis match
A pair of rain delays could not stop the No. 27 Mississippi State men’s tennis team from coming out on top on Sunday for its fifth-consecutive victory.
The Bulldogs (9-1, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) endured a total of an hour and 32 minutes of play stoppage to finally defeat 28th-ranked South Carolina (12-4, 2-2), 4-1, at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
“Our theme this week has been about going 100 percent every day in every drill and to start each drill with a lot of intensity,” MSU fourth-year head coach Matt Roberts said. “We sum that up by our phrase, ‘Make that push,’ and (Sunday) was a great opportunity to apply that because we had several rain delays. With every stop, we had another chance to make a push. What I was really proud of today was the guys being aware of it, making that decision to do it and then going out with that focus.”
To start off the day in doubles, the Gamecocks earned a quick advantage with a 6-1 win by 34th-ranked Yancy Dennis and Gabriel Friedrich against Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic on court 1. On court 2, Bulldogs Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini then continued their hot streak with the duo’s fourth straight victory, this time against South Carolina’s Paul Jubb and Thomas Mayronne by a 6-3 mark.
“We have been working together a lot and have been working hard on our game plan during practice,” Oradini said. “That work in practice is paying off. We have also been focusing on the details of our game and now we feel very confident. We have been helping each other out more, so that’s why we are playing well.”
Doubles all came down to court 3, where MSU’s No. 59 Florian Broska and Trevor Foshey overcame an early 1-0 deficit to win a tight 6-4 decision over the Gamecock tandem of Wood Benton and Harrison O’Keefe to clinch the doubles point. State led 1-0 at the break.
The Bulldogs got off to a hot start in singles, but just before the conclusion of fourth-ranked Borges’ first set and right as Rakic began his second frame, a light mist coated the courts, prompting a one hour, 18-minute delay.
After the delay, the 82nd-ranked Rakic continued to bring the intensity with which he began the match by completing a 6-2, 6-4 victory on court 3 against South Carolina’s Dennis to put the Bulldogs up 2-0. It was the 50th career singles triumph for the State junior.
Moments later, the MSU All-American Borges then continued his career-long win streak by notching a 6-3, 6-2 win South Carolina’s 29th-ranked Friedrich on court 1 to make it 3-0 in favor of the Bulldogs. Borges’ streak without a loss is now at 15 matches. In that streak, the junior has won all of his matches in straight-set fashion.
South Carolina’s lone point of the day came a few minutes later on court 5, when O’Keefe earned a tight 6-3, 6-4 win against Broska before wet conditions arrived once more, but this time only causing a short delay of 14 minutes.
Once play resumed, Oradini once again earned a clutch victory for the Bulldogs, this time taking down Jubb 6-4, 6-3 to seal the deal for MSU with his 20th win of the year. For the weekend, the 23rd-ranked sophomore went a perfect 4-0 in doubles and singles combined.
Braun and Foshey’s singles matches both went unfinished after Oradini’s clincher. Braun was up 6-2, 5-3 versus the Gamecocks’ Mayronne on court 4, while Foshey was leading 6-1, 4-4 against South Carolina’s Benton on court 6.
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 20-11 in the series against the Gamecocks and have won eight of the last nine meetings. In Starkville against South Carolina, MSU is now 10-4 and have won four straight. State has also won six consecutive league matches at Pitts.
Sunday’s win came on the heels of State’s upset of No. 9 Florida Friday.
“Overall, I’m very pleased with the way we competed all weekend,” Roberts said. “We were very poised and calm under pressure. We were very tough on the big points.”