After sweeping through the competition in Houston, Texas this past weekend against No. 29 Texas Tech and No. 55 Rice, the No. 11 Mississippi State men’s tennis team opens home play this weekend.
The Bulldogs, who are 2-0 on the 2013 season, look to keep their winning streak alive as Auburn, LSU and Indiana travel to the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff.
Senior James Chaudry said the team had a fantastic start to prepare the guys for this weekend.
“We know that all the teams here, regardless of who we play, are going to be tough. Everyone at this tournament is going to fight,” Chaudry said. “I think the preparation last weekend was great in terms of coming together as a team. I thought we did that really well.”
Chaudry played in the number three spot for the Dogs against Texas Tech and won his singles match 7-5, 6-1. He then defeated Adam Gustafsson of Rice 6-3, 7-6(6).
Chaudry said if the Bulldogs play as well as they did last weekend, the team’s success will continue.
“I feel like we’re playing at a level that is good enough to win any match we play,” Chaudry said. “Of course, there’s places to improve in every spot and for every person, but I feel like we are doing a good job, and hopefully we’ll put on a good show for the crowd, as well.”
Over the weekend, freshmen Romain Bogaerts and Jordan Angus both picked up a pair of singles wins. Also, Bogaerts and fellow freshman Pedro Dumont won both of their doubles matches.
Head coach Per Nilsson, who is in his fifth season at the helm for the Dogs, said the freshmen looked good in their opening matches of the season.
“We’re going to have freshmen in the line up (against LSU), and they really stepped up the first two matches,” Nilsson said. “A couple of them were a little nervous, but we feel like it will be a little easier (this weekend), but at the same time, they will be home matches, and maybe they’ll have a little bit of jitters as much as possible and hopefully they can get used to it.”
The three visiting squads this weekend are all currently ranked in the top 25. Auburn comes in ranked No. 21, Indiana at No. 23 and LSU at No. 25.
Nilsson said he felt the past weekend was good for the team, but the upcoming matches are going to be even bigger for the Maroon and White.
“It’s going to be a lot harder; there are some quality teams coming in,” Nilsson said. “These matches won’t be conference matches, but they will feel like it. It was good for our guys to get two matches in so they’ll be ready.” 
After a solid opening weekend, the Dogs could jump into the top 10 with a good weekend in Starkville. The Bulldogs look to remain undefeated as they face LSU Saturday at 1 p.m. before taking on either Auburn or Indiana Sunday.