Men’s Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mississippi State’s Giovanni Oradini is not one to shy away from playing ranked opposition.
The men’s tennis sophomore opened up singles play at the Gator Ranked +1 tournament Friday with an exciting 6-2, 6-4 upset victory against 46th-ranked Christian Seraphim of Wake Forest and followed it up with a hard-fought 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 comeback win against 88th-ranked McClain Kessler of host Florida.
His effort contributed to a day in which MSU netters went a combined 11-2 in their first day of the fall 2017 slate at two different locales.
State’s 67th-ranked Strahinja Rakic paired up with South Carolina’s Paul Jubb in the Orange doubles draw and claimed an 8-6 win against Bar Botzer and Seraphim of Wake Forest. Jubb and Rakic will retake the court in the semifinals on Saturday at 8 a.m. against Johannes Ingildsen and Brandon Lancaster (Florida/Louisville).
In singles Friday, Rakic notched a 7-5, 6-3 win against Noe Khlif of Illinois before dropping a 6-3, 6-0 decision to Florida’s Duarte Vale, ranked ninth nationally in the Oracle ITA Freshmen-Newcomer Rankings. Rakic will take on 5-8 seed Chris Morin-Kougoucheff of Louisville, ranked 74th nationally, at 12:30 p.m.
Bulldog junior Niclas Braun dropped his first singles match of the year in the Blue draw to No. 71 Jefta Kecic of North Florida, but rebounded with a solid 6-1, 6-3 victory against Louisville’s Federico Gomes.
In the Blue doubles draw, Braun and Oradini teamed up to earn an opening round win against Yuval Solomon and Jake Stefanik (Wake Forest/ Kentucky). The third-seeded MSU pair will face second-seeded Alfredo Perez and Duarte Vale of Florida in the semifinals today at 8 a.m.
Volleyball
In a hard-fought, five-set showdown, Mississippi State dropped its Southeastern Conference opener against South Carolina Friday night.
MSU (9-7, 0-1 SEC) fell to South Carolina (8-5, 0-1 SEC) in five (25-19, 17-25, 24-26, 25-22, 6-15) at Newell-Grissom, but must regroup fast as it now travels to Tennessee on Sunday.
The first set displayed dominance from the beginning, as MSU took an early 10-point lead for most of the game. Freshman Gabby Zgunda had three aces that contributed to the early lead. From there, the Bulldogs were in control as they capitalized on errors from the Gamecocks winning set one 25-19.
Making it different from the first, set two went back and forth the majority of the game. MSU battled hard, but fell behind at the end. South Carolina capitalized off of errors and won the set 25-17.
The Gamecocks came out swinging in the top of the third taking an early 6-0 lead. The Bulldogs then countered with kills and took an advantage over errors as they tied the set up at 23-23. State had set point at 24-23, but a service error was the difference as the two teams tied it up again before South Carolina took set three 26-24.
Set four was a tight battle as both teams stayed between three points of each other the majority of the game. Mississippi State only trailed once and took an early lead off of errors. A kills battled ensued to make it a thriller. Back-to-back kills by Jelena Vujcin and Sara Maddox sealed the set for the Bulldogs 25-22.
MSU fought hard, but kills were the difference in the deciding set as the Gamecocks won 15-6.
Women’s Golf
Coming off a solid start to the fall season, the Mississippi State women’s golf team returns to action as it treks to Oklahoma for the Schooner Fall Classic.
The three-day tournament tees off today and concludes Monday, with teams playing 18 holes each day.
Monday’s final round will be broadcast live by Sooner Sports TV from 1-3:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest and Fox College Sports Pacific. In addition to those channels, which reach 60 million households nationwide, streaming will also be available through the FOX Sports GO app with cable package authentication.
Women’s Tennis
GREENVILLE, S.C. – After the first day of play at the Debbie Southern Fall Classic Friday, the Mississippi State women’s tennis team is 3-3 in doubles play and 3-2 in singles after its first competition of the 2017-18 campaign.
“(Friday) provided us with just the right level of challenges,” MSU head coach Daryl Greenan said. “We picked up some solid wins. There were definitely some highlights, but there were also some matches where we could tell we hadn’t played a tournament match in a long time. The girls’ hearts were definitely in the right place. We just need to learn from (Friday) and battle hard (today).”
Doubles play started off with the MSU tandem of freshman Magda Adaloglou and junior Caroline Kelly going undefeated in Flight 4. The duo first defeated Furman’s Hannah Ferrett and Anna Walter 8-4 before outlasting North Carolina’s Maggie Kane and Cassandra Vazquez 8-7(4). The MSU duo will face Texas’ Chelsea Crovetti and Katie Poluta today in the final round of that flight’s round robin.
In Flight 1, State’s duo of juniors Janina Braun and Anastasia Rentouli upset Texas’ 45th-ranked Petra Granic and Bojana Markovic 8-5 in the first round. In the semifinals, the tandem fell to Ohio State’s Shiori Fukuda and Maria Tyrina 8-2. They will face the winner between Wake Forest’s Eliza Omirou and Anna Ulyashchenko and North Carolina’s Makenna Jones and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer Sunday in the third place match.
MSU’s tandem of sophomore Sara Lizariturry and senior Khrystyna Vozniak fell to Ohio State’s Mary Beth Hurley and Olivia Sneed 8-4 in their Flight 2 opener Friday. They were then downed by Texas’ Marta Perez Mur and Dani Wagland 8-1. Lizariturry and Vozniak will meet Florida State’s Nandini Das and Ariana Rahmanparast today for the seventh place match.
Singles proceeded after the doubles session was completed. State’s newcomer Adaloglou fell in a tough three-set battle to North Carolina’s 65th-ranked Makenna Jones 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in her Flight 1 opener and MSU singles debut. She will face Ohio State’s Shiori Fukuda today in the consolation first round. In Flight 2, MSU’s Rentouli persevered against Furman’s Katty Weymouth in three sets 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 and will meet Ohio State’s Olivia Sneed on Saturday in the semifinals of that draw. High School Football Area Scores
Starkville 42, Provine 0 Starkville Academy 36, Winston Academy 0
East Webster 44, J.Z. George 6 Eupora 13, Charleston 6
Nanih Waiya 49, French Camp 14
State Scores
Adams Christian 41, Trinity Episcopal 12
Alcorn Central 43, New Site 0
Bay Springs 38, Quitman 26 Bayou Aca. 36, Kirk Aca. 0 Benton Academy 37, Ben’s Ford, La. 20
Biloxi 26, D’Iberville 23
Bogue Chitto 22, St. Patrick 20 Brandon 21, Terry 12 Brookhaven Aca. 45, Claiborne, La. 7 Byhalia 40, Coldwater 0 Calhoun Aca. 76, North Sunflower Aca. 68
Calhoun City 62, Bruce 0 Central Private, La. 23, Amite School 14
Centreville Aca. 42, Bowling Green, La. 20
Christian Collegiate 58, Rebul Aca. 20 Clarkdale 30, Richton 12 Cleveland 27, Callaway 20 Collins 32, Lawrence County 12 Columbus 34, DeSoto Central 28, OT Copiah Aca. 43, Cathedral 6 Corinth 26, Kossuth 15 DeSoto, Ark. 20, Strider Aca. 0 Delta Aca. 37, Kemper Aca. 6 East Marion 48, Salem 8 Enterprise Clarke 30, Newton County 10
Fayette Academy, Tenn. 35, Walnut 21
Florence 36, Kosciusko 19 Germantown 30, Vicksburg 7 Greene 13, Moss Point 7 Greenville 42, Murrah 34, OT Grenada 29, Center Hill 7 Gulfport 30, St. Martin 7 Hancock 28, Ocean Springs 20 Harrison Central 29, Pascagoula 27 Hatley 40, Central Holmes 24 Hattiesburg 56, Gautier 13 Hazlehurst 6, Forrest Co. AHS 0 Heritage Aca. 31, Magnolia Heights 18
Horn Lake 33, South Panola 21 Houston 57, Amory 29 Humphreys Aca. 76, Unity Christian 36
Independence 54, Strayhorn 26 Indianola Aca. 38, North Delta 8 Itawamba AHS 45, Aberdeen 32 Jackson Prep 41, Presbyterian Christian 9
Jefferson Davis County 36, Franklin Co. 0
Lake 35, Richland 20
Lake Cormorant 28, Lewisburg 6 Lamar School 35, Northeast Lauderdale 18
Laurel 47, South Jones 8 LeFlore 20, Gentry 8
Leake Aca. 20, Canton Aca. 9 Leake County 56, Ethel 8 Louisville 34, Greenwood 18 Madison Central 27, Clinton 3 Madison-Ridgeland Aca. 31, St. Stanislaus 28
Manchester Aca. 36, Carroll Aca. 8 Marshall Aca. 21, Winona Christian 14 Marvell Academy, Ark. 44, Delta Streets 36
McAdams 28, Broad Street 6 Mendenhall 38, Raleigh 27 Meridian 48, Jim Hill 0
Mize 32, Wesson 21 Neshoba Central 20, Holmes County Central 19
New Albany 46, East Union 14 New Hope 34, Caledonia 3 North Forrest 20, Heidelberg 6 North Panola 44, Mitchell, Tenn. 6 North Pontotoc 39, Baldwyn 7 Northwest Rankin 38, Warren Central 31
Noxapater 18, Hamilton 16 O’Bannon 52, Riverside 27
Oak Grove 17, George County 7 Okolona 34, Falkner 0
Olive Branch 56, Saltillo 0
Pass Christian 34, Sumrall 29