Mississippi State’s tennis teams could not overcome their Southeastern Conference opponents over the weekend, as both the men’s and the women’s squads dropped matches against South Carolina and Florida.
Men
The Mississippi State men’s tennis team fell victim to a dramatic third-set comeback in the last match of Friday’s 4-3 loss to South Carolina.
The tightly contested doubles matches set the tone for the rest of the match, with South Carolina taking the point after a tiebreaker.
South Carolina gained an early advantage after Pjotrs Necajevs and Chris Doerr’s 8-5 defeat, but Edouard Benchetrit and Philippe Frayssinoux rallied from 6-1 down to bring State level with a 9-7 win.
The deciding doubles match came down to a tiebreaker between State duo Ivan Bjelica and Artem Kuznetsov and Carolina’s 42nd-ranked Yevgeny Supeko and Pedro Campos.
After taking an early lead, the State pair eventually fell 9-8(4) to give the Gamecocks the doubles point.
Kuznetsov’s 6-3, 6-1 loss to the 58th-ranked Supeko doubled South Carolina’s lead, but the Bulldogs battled back to 3-2 after winning the next three matches.
The 38th-ranked Bjelica won a pair of 6-3 sets, while Frayssinoux managed a 7-5, 6-4 victory, but it would not last.
The last two matches fell South Carolina’s way as the match ended in dramatic fashion.
Benchetrit forced tiebreakers in both sets, only to lose 7-6(4), 7-6(3), leaving the deciding point to be contested in the last match.
After dropping the first set 6-4, Doerr won 6-2 to force a third and decisive set.
Leading 5-2, Doerr conceded three straight sets, and the match went to a tiebreaker.
State’s fate was sealed as the clash ended in a 7-6(3) loss for Doerr, giving South Carolina a 4-3 win in an epic encounter.
Against No. 13 Florida on Sunday, the Bulldogs lost 6-1 despite battling hard.
Bjelica and Kuznetsov dropped the first doubles match 8-5 before Benchetrit and Frayssinoux evened matters with an 8-7(4) victory.
Florida secured the doubles point with Farlow and Necajev’s 8-6 loss.
Although the Bulldogs only came away with one win in the singles matches, head coach Sylvain Guichard pointed out that it was not due to a lack of competitiveness.
“Florida’s a very good team, obviously, so I am pleased with the effort we showed today,” Guichard said. “It was good to be competitive after losing the way we did Friday.”
Ryan Farlow’s 6-4, 6-2 victory gave the Bulldogs their only point, while Frayssinoux and Necajevs forced third sets against ranked opponents.
Women
A sound defeat and a forfeit meant Mississippi State’s lady netters fared no better than the men’s squad in the weekend’s Southeastern Conference match-ups.
With much of the team fighting illness, the Bulldogs dropped a 7-0 decision away to No. 38 South Carolina on Friday.
The Gamecocks went ahead 1-0 after gaining the doubles point, with State’s Tatiana Feit and Renee Joseph losing 8-2 before Elna de Villiers and DeAndra Saddler dropped their match 8-4.
A pair of illnesses in the Bulldog ranks gave the Gamecocks a default win in the only remaining match.
In the singles, five straight losses for State handed USC an emphatic victory.
First off the court was Joseph with a 6-1, 6-1 defeat, followed by de Villiers’ loss by the same score.
South Carolina clinched the match with Saddler’s 6-1, 6-2 defeat.
State was unable to find any consolation in the remaining matches, with Feit falling 6-1, 6-2, and Martina Banikova losing 6-3, 6-2.
Another default win due to illness ensured a shutout for the Gamecocks.
With illness sidelining four of the Lady Bulldogs, State was forced to forfeit Sunday’s scheduled match at No. 3 Florida.