Mississippi State’s tennis teams closed out their seasons competing in the Southeastern Conference Championships, with the men halted in the quarterfinals by Georgia after overcoming Vanderbilt and the women losing to Kentucky in the first round.Men
Seeded ninth, Mississippi State’s men’s tennis team managed a 4-0 upset over eighth-seeded Vanderbilt on Thursday in the first round of the SEC Championships, held in Baton Rouge, La.
State clinched the first point after winning two of the three doubles matches.
Mississippi State freshmen Artem Kuznetsov and Pjotrs Necajevs dropped the first match 8-1, before Bulldogs Chris Doerr and Ryan Farlow evened matters with an 8-4 victory.
The 36th-ranked pair of Ivan Bjelica and Philippe Frayssinoux then snatched the point for the Bulldogs after claiming an 8-3 win.
As the singles matches began, State gained an early advantage after taking the first set on four courts.
Kuznetsov was first off the courts with a 6-1, 6-2 win, before Doerr claimed a pair of 6-2 sets to stretch the lead to 3-0.
The remaining four matches went to three sets as Vanderbilt looked to quell the upset.
It took a comeback from Necajevs to secure the win for State. Down 4-1 in the final set, Necajevs fought back to claim the next five games and a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win to send the Bulldogs to the quarterfinals.
The remaining matches were suspended, with Frayssinoux and Farlow trailing early in their third sets and Bjelica holding a slight lead in his final set.
After advancing to the quarterfinals, MSU was eliminated by Georgia for the second straight year after a 4-0 loss on Friday.
Kuznetsov and Necajevs fell 8-0 to Georgia’s 19th-ranked pair of Travis Helgeson and Matic Omerzel, before Doerr and Farlow were shut out to give Georgia an early lead. The remaining doubles match was suspended with Bjelica and Frayssinoux leading the nation’s top-ranked doubles team of Luis Flores and John Isner 5-4.
The 12th-ranked Flores would then add to Georgia’s lead with a 6-2, 6-2 singles victory over State’s 55th-ranked Frayssinoux.
Doerr’s 6-3, 6-3 loss to Georgia’s 101st-ranked Jamie Hunt, along with Kuznetsov’s 6-1, 6-2 loss to the 41st-ranked Matic Omerzel, clinched the 4-0 win for Georgia.
Women
Mississippi State’s 11th-seeded women’s team ended their season with a 4-0 loss to sixth-seeded Kentucky on Thursday in the first round of the SEC Championships in Lexington, Ky.
State’s Martina Banikova and Valeriya Makarycheva were shut out 8-0 to Kentucky’s ninth-ranked pair of Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk, and Renee Joseph and Daniela Juskova dropped their match 8-4 to give the Wildcats the first point.
Kentucky claimed the first three singles matches to secure the team win. State’s Elna de Villiers was shut out in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, and Juskova fell 6-3, 6-2 to put the Wildcats up 3-0.
The clinching point came when MSU’s DeAndra Saddler was downed 6-2, 7-5, leaving all other matches suspended. Banikova and Makarycheva were tied in their second set after dropping their first, while Joseph was down 5-4 in the second set after winning the first 7-5.
The lady netters finish the season 5-13 overall and 1-10 in the SEC.