Amid the cold and bluster of winter, the Mississippi State men’s and women’s tennis teams will officially inaugurate their “spring” seasons this weekend in respective tournaments. For the men’s team, a trip to New Orleans for the Southeastern Conference Coaches Indoor Championships will see the 53rd-ranked Bulldogs pitted against their conference rivals in single-elimination individual play.
MSU’s Philippe Frayssinoux and Ivan Bjelica will be looking to take advantage of their seeded draw to build upon their respective 31st and 32nd national rankings.
In the doubles, MSU’s 28th ranked duo of Pjotrs Necajev and Artem Kuznetsov also has the advantage of a seeded draw. This will be the last individual tournament of the year before the championships in May.
The tournament will also be a scouting mission for the Bulldogs, allowing for a good look at the competition they will be facing for the rest of the season.
“The SEC’s the best conference in the nation by far,” team representative Jay Middleton said. “But we’re still not as high ranked as we want to be.”
Meanwhile, the women’s team heads to Athens for the Georgia Invitational to face Georgia, Troy and Kansas State in individual non-conference play.
The tournament allows for the rearranging of doubles teams after each round, a luxury that ensures that this will be treated as an important seasonal warm-up for the Lady Bulldogs.