BULLDOG BITS
Men’s Tennis
DALLAS, Texas – The Mississippi State men’s tennis team can mark another fall tournament off the calendar as the Bulldogs leave the Ralston/neufeld Coaches Challenge with an impressive 16-10 mark for the weekend, highlighted by junior Florian Broska reaching the doubles and singles finals.
The second-seeded tandem of Broska and Nicolas Ocana continued their impressive doubles tournament Sunday as the pair met Jose Dominguez Alonso and Enrique Paya of Arkansas in the semifinals, prevailing 8-6. The Bulldogs then prepared for the championship match against top seeded Murkel Dellien and Marius Frosa of Wichita State. The Shocker pair proved too tough for the Bulldogs, notching an 8-4 triumph.
Following doubles, the final round of play in the Red Flight was staged as Broska looked to put himself in the playoff bracket for a chance to win the overall tournament crown. In the Red Flight title match, Broska sailed past Wichita State’s Orel Ovil 6-0, 6-1.
In the first round of the playoffs – which featured all winners from main draw and consolation action battling in 10-point tiebreakers – Broska met SMU’S Jan-simon Vrbsky on his home court, winning 1-0(5). Broska then faced Baylor’s Christopher Frantzen in the playoff semifinals, holding off the Bear 1-0(8). In the championship match, Broska’s foe was Carles Sarrio of tournament host SMU. The MSU junior battled until the end, ultimately falling 1-0(4). It was
Broska’s lone singles setback this weekend, which saw the Bulldog veteran go 6-1 overall in singles and 3-1 in doubles.
The remaining three MSU true freshmen represented the Maroon and White well as they concluded action in consolation play Sunday.
Isaac Becroft met Enrique Paya of Arkansas and pulled out a tough three-set battle 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(3) in White Flight consolation action. Fellow freshman Nicolas Ocana, also in White Flight consolation, battled Tyler JC’S Jeff Guerro and notched a 6-1, 6-4 victory. In Red Flight consolation, Davide Tortora faced Wichita State’s Dellien, dropping a tight 4-6, 6-4, 1-0(3) decision.
Becroft and Tortora also teamed in the semifinals of doubles consolation, falling 6-3 to
Will Peters and Kabir Sarita of Princeton.
Two Bulldogs – Giovanni Oradini and Gregor Ramskogler - will head to Newport Beach, California, this week for the prestigious Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. The event will conclude 2019 fall competition for the Bulldogs.
Volleyball
BATON ROUGE, La. – Mississippi State volleyball came back from down 1-0 and 2-1 to tie and force LSU to five sets on the road at the Pete Maravich Center Sunday. The Tigers outlasted State, however, in the final set 17-15 to win the five-frame thriller.
“I’m proud of our fight today,” MSU volleyball coach Julie Darty said. “It was a roller coaster of a match and I think that’s the part we are trying to figure out and smooth out.
“When we take care of our side and control what we can control, the result is pretty good. We have to find a way to slow it down and settle in, and really make the choice to focus on the serve and pass game if we are going to win sets and matches.”
Mississippi State (13-11, 2-10 SEC) split its weekend on the road with the loss to LSU (1110, 5-6 SEC) after defeating Auburn on Friday.
With 45 assists and 13 digs, senior Alleah Stamatis picked up her 10th dig of the season. Freshman Callie Minshew tallied 14 kills and 13 digs for her fourth of the season.
For the weekend, Minshew tallied 21 kills and 23 digs with double-digit dig performances in both matches.
After falling 25-9 in the third set, the Bulldogs bounced back with a 25-22 win in the fourth set to force the fifth frame. MSU led for the majority of the final set, but LSU struck late to take the lead. State spoiled two LSU match points, but the Tigers pulled through in extra points 17-15.
Five Bulldogs put up doubledigit digs, led by sophomore Paige Shaw’s 14. Stamatis, Minshew and freshman Makenzie Jordan each had 13, and senior libero Kanani Price tallied 12.
On the attack, four MSU student-athletes collected doubledigit kills as Minshew and sophomore Deja Robinson picked up 14 each. Senior Amarrah Cooks and sophomore Gabby Waden had each had 10, and Cooks did so on a .409 hitting percentage.