The Mississippi State tennis team kicked off the 2006 dual-match season this weekend. The Bulldogs were victorious in their only match of the weekend, defeating University of Alabama-Birmingham 4-0 Friday.
They scored first, winning the first two double matches. At the No. 3 spot, Ryan Farlow and Florent Girod defeated the duo of Johannos Spangenberg and Adrien Tollstam 8-4. Shortly thereafter, Ivan Bjelica and Jose-Carlos Pinto knocked off Anton Marvin and Kristjan Mitrovski 8-6 at the No. 1 spot.
At the No. 2 spot Sebastian Falk and Andre Maier 8-6 beat Philippe Frayssionux and Pierre Mouillon. In singles play, all six matches were in the second set before play was suspended due to rain. The Bulldogs started out slow but still managed to win three straight matches to sweep the Blazers.
“Whenever you’re in a rain delay, it hurts the player with the advantage,” Bulldogs head coach Sylvain Guichard said.
After play was moved from the Pitts Tennis Center, Bjelica quickly put away Mitrovski 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot. At the No. 2 spot, Mouillon outlasted Marvin in a very controversial match, winning 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4). When Pinto defeated Falk 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3) the Bulldogs clinched the match, and the other three matches were suspended. The victory puts MSU 22-1 all-time against UAB, winning 13 in a row.
The Lady Bulldogs didn’t fare so well in their season-opening matches. In the season opener, the Houston Cougars fought back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 Thursday. The Lady Dawgs were on fire early, taking wins in the No. 1, 2 and 3 singles spots.
Anastasia Kugakolova brushed off UH’s Loli Gomez 6-0, 6-0. Renee Joseph defeated Brianna Bateup 6-1, 6-2, and Martina Banikova defeated Sonja Nikolic 6-2, 6-3. The Cougars turned around and won the next three matches.
Kami Miller beat Polina Kokoulina 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 4 spot. At the No. 5 spot , Vicky Simpson defeated Elna de Villiers 7-6 (7), 6-3, and at the No. 6 spot Yolandi Terblanche defeated Tatiana Feit 7-6 (7), 6-7 (4), 6-2. The Lady Dawgs struck first in the doubles matches, with Kugakolova and Kukoulina defeating Gomez and Nikolic 8-2.
Then Houston bounced back, with Bateup and Simpson defeating Joseph and Juskova 8-2. In the deciding match, Banikova and de Villiers fell short, losing to Miller and Terblanche 8-6. The loss snapped the eight match-winning streak on season openers for the Lady Bulldogs.
The woes seemed to continue for the Lady Bulldogs on Saturday versus Troy. For the second straight match, the winning point came down to the final match.
The Lady Dawgs dropped the opening doubles point, with the lone win coming from Kugakolova and Kokoulina. They defeated the Trojan duo of Claudia Strauss and Tsitsi Masviba 8-2 at the No. 1 spot. At the No. 2 and No. 3 spots Suzanna Jones and Rawia Elsisi def. Banikova and de Villiers 8-6, and Annebelle Bares and Shamiaa Elsisi def. Joseph and Danielle Juskova 8-6.
The Bulldogs managed to tie the score at 3-3 with singles wins at the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots. Banikova def. Bares 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. De Villiers def. Jones 6-0, 6-3. Feit def. Shamiaa Elsisi 6-4, 6-4.
The Trojans won the No. 1, 2 and 3 spots with the clinching point coming at the No. 1 spot. At the No. 2 and 3 spots, Masviba def. Joseph 6-2, 6-4, and Strauss def. Juskova 6-0, 6-0. At the No. 1 spot Rawiaa Elsisi def. Anastasia Kugakolova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.