Both Mississippi State tennis teams lost their weekend games against Georgia and Tennessee, with the women dropping a pair of 6-1 decisions at home and the men losing 7-0 and 5-2 away. Women
An impressive upset win from Martina Banikova was all State’s lady netters could manage en route to a 6-1 home loss against third-ranked Georgia on Friday.
Georgia earned the first point after sweeping the doubles. State pair Renee Joseph and Daniela Juskova was the first to fall, dropping an 8-2 decision. Banikova and Valeriya Makarycheva’s 8-3 loss clinched the point for Georgia, while Elna de Villiers and Dandra Saddler fought to an 8-7 (3) tiebreaker loss.
The singles matches followed the same pattern, with Juskova first off the court after a 6-0, 6-1 loss to 60th-ranked Yvette Hyndman. Saddler soon followed, losing out to 81st-ranked Darya Ivanov 6-1, 6-1, and Georgia clinched the win with Makrycheva’s 6-1, 7-5 defeat. Georgia extended its lead to 5-0 after Joseph fell 6-4, 6-3.
Banikova’s third upset win of the season against Georgia’s seventh-ranked Natalie Frazier earned State its only point. Banikova won the grueling opening set tiebreaker 7-6 (16) and opened up a 1-0 lead in the second before Frazier retired.
State’s de Villiers earned a second set victory over 33rd-ranked Monika Dancevic but could not hang on for the win, losing 6-0, 1-6, 6-4.
The lady netters recorded the same 6-1 score on Easter Sunday against Tennessee.
Saddler and de Villiers dropped the first doubles decision 8-1, followed by Banikova and Makarycheva’s 8-2 loss to hand the Vols the first point. Joseph and Juskova’s 8-6 loss allowed the Vols to sweep the doubles.
Juskova was first off the court in the singles, dropping a pair of 6-1 sets. Makarycheva’s 6-3, 6-0 loss gave the Vols a 3-0 advantage, then Saddler’s 6-0, 6-2 loss spelled defeat for the Bulldogs.
De Villiers managed to add a consolation point for State, battling to a 7-6 (3) tiebreaker loss in the first set and ahead 1-0 in the second before her opponent retired.
Joseph lost 6-3, 6-0 before Banikova’s 6-3, 7-5 loss against Tennessee’s 35th-ranked Blakeley Griffith brought the score to 6-1.The Lady Bulldogs last duel match of the season will be against instate rival Mississippi on Saturday, April 14. The Bulldogs (5-12, 1-9) will hope to end their run of six straight losses, while the Lady Rebs (4-16, 0-9) come into the match having lost 13 straight. The match will see 71st-ranked Banikova face the Rebels’ 74th-ranked Ilona Somers, with each of them coming off recent upset wins over higher opposition.
The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center in Oxford.
Men
Friday’s match against Georgia saw the Mississippi State men’s tennis team shutout 7-0 against their top-ranked opponents.
State’s Chris Doerr and Ryan Farlow were first off the court following their 8-4 loss in the doubles. The nation’s top-ranked pair of John Isner and Luis Flores then clinched the first point for Georgia with an 8-3 win over MSU’s Ivan Bjelica and Philippe Frayssinoux. Georgia’s 13th-ranked Travis Helgeson and Matic Omerzel overcame State’s Artem Kuznetsov and Pjotrs Necajevs 8-4 to sweep the doubles.
State’s Farlow and Edouard Benchetrit both lost their singles matches 6-1, 6-2 against ranked opponents, leaving Georgia with a 3-0 lead. Georgia claimed the match after top-ranked Isner downed MSU’s 37th-ranked Bjelica 6-2, 6-2, and extended the lead to 5-0 after Doerr fell 6-1, 6-3 to Georgia’s 78th-ranked Jamie Hunt.
Frayssinoux dropped a pair of 6-2 sets against the 11th-ranked Travis Helgeson, before Kuznetsov’s 7-6, 6-3 loss to 17th-ranked Luis Flores confirmed a 7-0 shutout for Georgia.
Sunday saw the Bulldogs fall 5-2 away to 22nd-ranked Tennessee.
State earned the first point after two upsets on the doubles court. Bjelica and Frayssinoux defeated the Vols’ 23rd-ranked pairing of Bobby Cameron and Kaden Hensel 9-7.
Kuznetsov and Necajevs’ 9-8 victory over the 46th-ranked pair of Adam Hubble and Ben Rogers then gave the Bulldogs the doubles point.
Benchetrit’s 6-3, 6-1 loss in the singles tied the match at 1-1, before Kuznetsov dropped a pair of 6-3 sets against UT’s 117th-ranked Davey Sandgren to give the Vols a 2-1 advantage.
Farlow lost 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, before Frayssinoux’s 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 upset win over 36th-ranked Bobby Cameron narrowed the advantage.
Bjelica dropped a second set tiebreaker against the Vols’ 33rd-ranked Kaden Hensel, losing 6-3, 6-7 and giving UT the decisive point.
Doerr was last off the court after a close match, eventually losing 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 and leaving the team score at 5-2.
The Bulldogs close out dual match play as they take on seventh-ranked Mississippi on Saturday, April 14.
The 65th-ranked Bulldogs (6-12, 3-7) have twice overcome higher-ranked opposition and will be hard pressed to find a win against
Mississippi (19-3, 8-2), which recently clinched its sixth-straight SEC West Championship.
The Rebels boast five nationally-ranked singles players, as well as the 30th and 32nd-ranked doubles pairs.
The match against the Rebels is slated to begin at 1 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.