MenSaturday’s sunny skies allowed the A.J. Pitts Center to play host to the men’s home opener, where the Bulldogs eased their way to a 6-1 defeat over UAB.
The Bulldogs opened their account by sweeping the three doubles match-ups, with Artem Kuznetsov and Pjotrs Necajevs starting things off with an 8-3 victory.
Edouard Benchetrit and Chris Doerr won 8-4 to give State the first point, and Ivan Bjelica and Philippe Frayssinoux rounded out the doubles sweep winning an 8-7(3) tiebreaker.
MSU showed similar form in the singles matches, clinching the win in the first three matches in straight sets.
The 31st-ranked Frayssinoux coasted to a 6-0, 6-1 victory, followed by a 7-6(2), 6-1 win for Kuznetsov to give State a 3-0 lead.
A 6-4, 6-4 victory for 32nd-ranked Bjelica wrapped up the win for MSU, but the Bulldogs were not quite finished.
State freshman Necajevs negotiated a three set tiebreaker, coming from behind to win 5-7, 6-3, 1-0(7), giving the Bulldogs a 5-0 lead.
The Blazers managed a consolation point after MSU freshman Benchetrit fell to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 defeat.
Sophomore Ryan Farlow won the final match 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7) to leave MSU celebrating a 6-1 victory.
Women
Mississippi State’s lady netters fell 4-1 to 44th-ranked Colorado in their home opener Friday, earning their solitary point via a major upset before dropping two three-set matches.
Poor weather conditions forced the match indoors under the confines of McCarthy Gymnasium.
Sophomore Martina Banikova powered her way to a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 upset over Colorado’s 36th-ranked Monica Milewski, bringing the two teams level at 1-1 after Colorado took the doubles point.
Head coach Tracy Lane showed no surprise over the upset, citing Banikova’s disciplined work ethic and psychological fortitude as comparable to her more illustrious ranked opponents.
“She can play with those players, and she’s shown that,” Lane said. “In the end, though, it was just one point.”
That point ended up being all the Bulldogs could muster. The next match saw Daniela Juskova drop a close match 7-6, 4-6, 5-6, then Elna de Villiers followed suit with a 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 loss.
Renee Joseph’s 2-6, 3-6 defeat left Colorado celebrating their third win on the trot and coach Lane ruing the poor weather.
“Colorado is a very good indoor team,” Lane said. “They just did a few things a little differently than us, and we just got beat by a better team.”
Sunday’s scheduled home match against UAB was postponed to a later date and will be played at the UAB campus.