BULLDOG BITS
Men’s Tennis
The Mississippi State men's tennis team will have a busy weekend on tap as they take on Tulane today followed by a doubleheader against Presbyterian and Jackson State on Sunday.
The 5-1 Bulldogs will open the weekend against Tulane at 3 p.m. inside the Rula Tennis Pavilion. The Green Wave are no strangers to Starkville, having competed in the Bulldog Invitational in the fall of 2021.
MSU has won eight of the last nine meetings against Tulane during dual match play and hold a 16-7 edge overall in the series and an 8-2 mark at home. The Bulldogs have won two straight in the series and claimed a 5-2 victory during the last meeting in New Orleans on Feb. 21, 2021.
Petar Jovanovic and Carles Hernandez are both undefeated in singles play this spring. Jovanovic, ranked 107th nationally, is riding a nine-match winning streak dating back to the fall while
Hernandez has won his last five outings and eight of his last nine overall.
Hernandez is also part of the No. 42 doubles tandem alongside Nemanja Malesevic and are 7-3 overall for the year.
Gregor Ramskogler is also ascending State's record books in doubles. Ramskogler's 55 career dual match doubles wins are the fourth-most in school history and needs one more to match Matthieu Ballay (1996-99) for third alltime.
Ramskogler is also tied with René-charles Combette (2000-03) for seventh alltime at MSU with 77 overall career doubles wins.
Tulane was victorious is its only match of the season thus far. The Green Wave defeated Furman 6-1 at home on Jan. 20.
Tulane features Fynn Kuenkler, who is ranked the No. 87 singles competitor in the country. Malesevic earned a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory against Kuenkler during the 2021 Bulldog Invitational.
Women’s Tennis
Mississippi State women's tennis is back in action at home against No. 14 Iowa State today at 11 a.m. inside the Rula Tennis Pavilion.
MSU is off to a 6-0 start this season and coming off a doubleheader sweep of Tennessee State (7-0, 7-0) last Sunday. After the sweep, the Bulldogs have now won 59 consecutive non-conference matches at home.
Head coach Daryl Greenan's Bulldogs feature the tandem of Emmanouela Antonaki and Gia Cohen, who have won nine of their last twelve doubles matches dating back to the fall.
As of late, State has seen two new doubles pairings. Sydney Hrehor and Emily Surcey saw their second doubles win last Sunday with a 6-0 victory over their opponents. The other new pairing includes the duo of Maddie Bemisderfer and Maddie Mckee, who earned their first win of the spring against
Tennessee State.
In singles, Mississippi State has collected 32 singles wins and have only allowed four singles points to be scored against them at home.
With her next win, Antonaki will stand alone at the No. 1 spot in the MSU record book with 91 career singles wins. Antonaki has been on a hot streak of late, winning all six of her matches this season. Chloé Cirotte has followed suit by also being undefeated during dual play.
Hrehor, a freshman, earned her first regular season collegiate singles win last Sunday against Tennessee State, while also clinching the win for State.
This will be the first matchup between the Bulldogs and Cyclones.
Iowa State is off to a 4-1 start to the season having won back-to-back matches against No. 18 UCLA (4-3) on Jan. 28 and 10th-ranked Miami (4-3) on Jan. 29.