BULLDOG BITS
Men’s Tennis
No. 18 Mississippi State split a doubleheader on Saturday that earned head coach Matt Roberts his 100th career home win and also extended the Bulldogs' non-conference home winning streak to 13 matches.
MSU (14-3, 2-2 SEC) suffered its first home setback of the season in a 4-2 loss to 39th-ranked Texas A&M (7-7, 2-2 SEC) but bounced back with a 6-1 victory over Belmont (7-5) to close out the day.
Freshman Benito Sanchez Martinez was the Bulldogs' biggest winner of the day by claiming two singles victories. Sanchez Martinez started things off by earning his first career ranked win over No. 100 Pierce Rollins of Texas A&M in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
Sanchez Martinez also topped Belmont's Tomas Luis 6-4, 6-2 to boost his dual match record to 13-4. He also teamed with Michal Novansky for a 6-2 victory over the Bruin duo of Jack Randall and Alfred Wallin.
Petar Jovanovic and Ewen Lumsden teamed together in doubles for the first time since Oct. 15 and garnered a pair of wins. Jovanovic and Lumsden took down the Aggies' Giulio Perego and Raphael Perto and also clinched the doubles point for MSU with their 6-3 win over Luis and Ian Cruz of Belmont.
The Bulldogs picked up five singles wins during their match against Belmont. No. 125 Nemanja Malesevic won 6-2, 6-2 over Marko Ilic on Court 1 while Jovanovic got back to his winning ways by making short work of Cruz 6-0, 6-4. Novansky battled back to beat Randall 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 and Lumsden clinched his fourth match of the spring against Riccardo Trione 6-3, 6-3.
No. 89 Carles Hernandez also earned his eighth consecutive singles win during the Texas A&M match as he pushed past Perego 6-3, 6-3.
Mississippi State will conclude its four-match homestand on March 19 when it hosts fifth-ranked South Carolina at 1 p.m.
Women’s Tennis
AUBURN, Ala. – Mississippi State women's tennis heads No. 7 Auburn to take on the Tigers today at noon.
The match will mark the 49th matchup between the two teams. Mississippi State will attempt to snap a two-match losing streak and earn its first victory in the series since 2019.
The Bulldogs earned a 4-2 win on March 15, 2019 in Starkville and a month later MSU defeated the Tigers at the Southeastern Coference Tournament with a 4-1 victory on April 17 in College Station, Texas.
Emmanouela Antonaki earned her 23rd-ranked singles win of her career on Friday against Alabama's No. 96 Loudmilla Bencheikh. Antonaki is now 15-8 overall and 9-3 in dual play.
In doubles, Antonaki and Chloé Cirotte earned a ranked win against the 58th-ranked doubles tandem of Anne Marie Hiser and Bencheikh. Gia Cohen and Maddie Bemisderfer clinched the doubles point for the Bulldogs on Friday with a win over Alabama's Kasia Pitak and Ola Pitak.
MSU enters the match with a 10-4 record and a 0-3 record in conference play after dropping to Alabama 5-2 on Friday.
The Tigers' lineup features several ranked players. Carolyn Ansari is ranked 41, while Ariana Arseneault sits at 46th to make up the ranked players in singles.
Additionally, the duo of Ansari and Arseneault are ranked 20th in doubles, Anastasia Astakhova and Adeline Flach are ranked 51st, Angella Okutoyi and Flach are ranked 64th.
The Tigers are tied with Pepperdine at No. 7 after taking down Alabama 4-3 last Sunday.