Academics
Spring commencement ceremonies at Mississippi State University included 36 Bulldog student-athletes who received their degrees May 5-6.
The list of MSU's student-athlete graduates also included four who received master's degrees – Blaise Carabello (women's golf), Chelsea Duhs (volleyball), Devon Desper (football) and Ffion Price (track and field).
Ceremonies were held at Humphrey Coliseum, with Dr. LouAnn Woodward, University of Mississippi Medical Center vice chancellor for health affairs and UM School of Medicine dean, delivering the commencement address.
State had 85 student-athletes earn Dean's Scholar or President's Scholar for the spring semester. MSU also had 178 student-athletes
selected to the Bulldog Honor Roll for posting a 3.0 or higher grade-point average, and 29
earned Top Dawg honors by wrapping the semester with a 4.0.
Men's golf led the men's teams with a 3.23 GPA, while women's tennis posted the highest among women's squads and the top overall for the second-straight semester with a 3.48. Mississippi State's women's teams finished with a 3.27 cumulative GPA, with seven of the eight
Bulldog women's programs tallying a 3.0 or higher.
Men's Golf
BATON ROUGE, La. – Mississippi State freshman Peng Pichaikool shot a seven-overpar 79 in Tuesday’s second-round play at the
NCAA Baton Rouge (La.) Regional.
Pichaikool sits in a tie for 50th heading into today's final round after posting a 154 over the opening two rounds.
“Disappointing day out there (Tuesday), but I'll make a few adjustments and do the best I can (today),” Pichaikool said.
The top five teams and the lowest individual not on those teams advance to the championship at Rich Harvest Farms Golf Club in Sugar Grove, Ill., starting May 26.
The final round of the regional for Pichaikool begins at 9:31 a.m. today.
Live scoring for all regionals will be provided via Golfstat.com.
Women's Tennis
With another fantastic season concluded, the Mississippi State women's tennis team had two recipients for this year's ITA Southern Region awards.
Sachin Kirtane was selected the ITA Southern Region Assistant Coach of the Year, while Jasmine Lee earned the ITA Southern Region Senior Player of the Year honor.
The Bulldog pair became the first recipients of the ITA Southern Region Assistant of the Year and Senior Player of the Year honors in program history. Both Kirtane and Lee will be considered for the national versions of their respective awards as well. The national awards will be announced next Tuesday, May 2.
“I am proud and humbled to receive this honor,” Kirtane said. “This award is a direct result of the hard work our team put in this season and all the credit goes to those girls. I want to also thank Daryl Greenan for giving me this opportunity to coach at MSU. We have great chemistry and it's been a blast to work alongside one of my dear friends.”
Assisting Greenan, Kirtane guided the Bulldogs to a 15-9 record in 2017. MSU also
achieved the program's highest national ranking ever after coming in at No. 16 on April 4.
The combo of Greenan and Kirtane has led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament in all three seasons together, guiding MSU to a 49-30 record overall during that span. Before
the arrival of Kirtane, MSU's last postseason appearance was in 2005.
In the Southeastern Conference, the duo has been a force as well, earning back-to-back seven win seasons in the always-powerful league, which ranks as the most in program history. This year, the SEC sent 12 of its 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament.
Going down as one of State's best players to ever, Lee added another accolade to her lengthy resume with this week's ITA Senior of the Year regional award. The Bulldog had picked up back-to-back ITA Southern Region Player to Watch selections in 2015 and 2016. The senior ranks No. 7 overall in singles
action (a program high), while coming in at No. 2 in the country in doubles (second-best all-time at MSU) with partner Lisa Marie Rioux. Lee is seeded No. 7 in sinlges and No. 2
in doubles (with Rioux) in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, which begin May 24 in Athens, Ga. Both of those seeding are program records.
On the court, the senior Bulldog went 23-6 in singles and 24-5 in doubles play. The Taiwan native's successful season earned her All-America status in both singles and doubles and led to a third straight All-SEC first team selection, all MSU firsts. In 2016, she became the first Bulldog in program history to earn AllAmerican honors in singles play after reaching the NCAA quarterfinals as a 9-16 seed.
For her career, Lee stands first all-time at MSU in overall winning percentage (72.8 percent) and fourth in overall wins (123) in just five semesters of competition. She is 72-36 (73.5 percent) overall in singles, with the 72 wins tying for second all-time at MSU.