Neither of Mississippi State’s tennis squads could overcome the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday, as the men dropped a 6-1 decision at home while the women lost 4-1 away.Men
Playing their last regular season game on Saturday, the Mississippi State netmen lost 6-1 to seventh-ranked Mississippi at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
State doubles pair Chris Doerr and Ryan Farlow dropped their match 8-1 before Artem Kuznetsov and Pjotrs Necajevs’ 8-3 loss gave the Rebels the first point. State’s Ivan Bjelica and Philippe Frayssinoux claimed the last doubles win after Ole Miss’ 30th-ranked pair of Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson retired with the score deadlocked at 5-5.
The singles matches began ominously for State, with the Rebels taking the first set on four courts. Necajevs was first to succumb to the pressure, losing 6-2, 6-1. Mississippi extended their lead to 3-0 with the 19th-ranked Erling Tveit’s 6-0, 6-1 win over 37th-ranked Bjelica.
The 75th-ranked Frayssinoux managed to pull one back for the Bulldogs with his 6-2, 5-0 win over UM’s 84th-ranked Matthias Wellermann, who retired early. There was to be no comeback, however, as State freshman Doerr dropped his match 6-2, 6-4 to hand Mississippi the clinching point.
The lead was extended to 5-1 after Kuznetsov’s 6-2, 6-4 loss to UM’s 91st-ranked Jakob Klaesson. State’s Farlow came close to an upset after taking the first set against the Rebels’ 40th – ranked Robbye Poole, but could not hang on as he lost 2-6, 6-4, 1-0(6) to leave the team score at 6-1.
The Bulldogs travel to Baton Rouge, La., on Thursday to face Vanderbilt in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Championship Tournament.
Women
The Mississippi State women’s tennis team closed out its regular season with a 4-1 loss to in-state rival Mississippi on Saturday.
Renee Joseph and Daniela Juskova started the match brightly for the Bulldogs, winning the opening doubles match 8-1. State’s Elna de Villiers and DeAndra Saddler’s 8-2 loss leveled matters before UM claimed the point following Martina Banikova and Valeriya Makarycheva’s 8-4 loss.
In the singles, 71st-ranked Banikova fell 6-2, 6-1 to UM’s 74th-ranked Ilona Somers. Juskova then dropped a pair of 6-4 sets to put the score at 3-0 in favor of Mississippi.
After a first set tiebreaker, de Villiers gave the Bulldogs their first point with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win. The Rebels clinched the match after Joseph’s 6-3, 6-2 loss, and the remaining two matches were suspended to leave the final score at 4-1.
State’s Saddler was in the midst of a first set tiebreaker, and Makarycheva was ahead 6-3, 3-1 when the matches were suspended.
The Lady Bulldogs face Kentucky in Lexington for the first round of the Southeastern Conference Championship on Thursday.
The men ninth-seeded Bulldogs will face a tough test against eighth seed and 41st-ranked Vanderbilt, their first opponents and a team they lost to 5-2 earlier in the season. Should State’s netmen prevail there, they will face much sterner opposition against top-ranked Georgia.
The 65-ranked Bulldogs go into the tournament with a 3-8 record against SEC teams and 6-13 overall. Their last four matches have come as losses to SEC teams, including Georgia. Their match against Vanderbilt is slated to begin at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
The Women’s SEC tournament in Lexington, will be played April 19-22. MSU will be hoping to reverse a seven-match losing streak against Kentucky, as well as avenge a 6-1 loss to the Wildcats earlier in the season. The 11th-seeded Lady Bulldogs have only claimed one SEC win this season on their way to a 5-13 record overall. Kentucky, meanwhile, has lost as many as MSU has won, boasting a 15-5 record overall and are 6-4 in the SEC.
The match against the sixth-seeded Wildcats is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday.