On a weekend trip to Athens, Georgia, the three men’s bulldog tennis players showed very promising talent. Lucas Sanchez, Vaughn Hunter and Trevor Foshey traveled to the Southern Intercollegiate and looked ready to develop.
 “This weekend was all about development for us,” head coach Matt Roberts said. “I really liked what our three guys showed against some top-quality competition here in Athens. I’m excited to get back on the practice courts this week and keep getting better.”
In the first round of doubles, Foshey/Hunter were defeated by Romain Boudaraou/Andrei Morin-Kougouheff of Florida Atlantic 8-6.
In the Division I singles first round, Hunter defeated Nicolas Guillon of Mercer 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 while Foshey dropped his match to Loic Blanco of Stetson 7-6, 7-6. In the second round, the number one seed overall Wayne Montgomery of Georgia defeated Hunter 6-2, 6-4.
In the Division II singles first round, Sanchez was defeated by Egor Panyushkin of Saint Leo 6-2, 6-4.
 On day two, the consolation rounds were held. In the first round of consolations, Hunter took the court and defeated Will Albanese 6-3, 6-7, 6-2. Foshey was defeated by Alex Theiler of SLU 6-2,4-6, 1-0. Sanchez defeated Franco Echenique of BAR 6-4, 6-2.
 Sanchez’s win on Saturday sent him to the second round of the consolation round on Sunday but he was defeated by Marco Almorin of CSU 6-4, 6-2.
That loss ended MSU’s time in Athens as they showed promise for the season. The next match for the mens team will be October 3-8 when they travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the ITA All-American Championships.
The women’s tennis team opened up their season against Georgia State, NC State and Virginia Tech in Raleigh, North Carolina.
On day one, the Bulldogs faced off with Georgia State and NC State in doubles while facing Virginia Tech in singles. In doubles against Georgia State, MSU went 2-1 with Jasmine Lee/Madison Harrison and Georgiana Patrasc/Anastasia Rentouli picked up the two wins.
Against N.C. State, MSu went 1-2 with Rentouli/Jennifer Brown picking up the only win. In singles play against Virginia Tech, MSU took the decision 3-2 with Patrasc, Harrison and Rentouli picking up three respected wins. The bulldogs finished day one of the tournament 3-3 in doubles and 3-2 in singles.
 On day two of the tournament, Mississippi State dominated their opponents and finished a respected 4-0 in doubles against Virginia Tech and 7-0 in singles against N.C. State. That momentum continued into Sundays matchups against Georgia State.
 On Sunday, the Bulldogs picked up where they left off Saturday, going 5-1 on the final day of the event. That allowed the Bulldogs to pick up a solid tournament win going 7-3 in doubles play and 15-3 in singles play.    
 The Bulldogs also picked up some nice hardware. Jasmine Lee was named the tournament overall champion after posting a combined 3-0 with both singles and doubles. Freshman Rentouli was named champion of the second flight as she won her first collegiate outing 3-0.
 Head coach Daryl Greenan was very pleased with their outing. “We won a bunch of good battles this weekend,” Greenan said. “I am happy with our 22-6 overall record. Many of those wins were very hard earned. We saw some things we need to work on but I was extremely impressed with our focus and determination. It was a great start to our fall season.”
The women’s tennis team will play in their next match on October 2-3 in Lafayette, IN in the Purdue Invite.