Men

Men’s tennis swept the doubles point in their home opener Saturday against UAB en route to a 5-2 win over the No. 75 Blazers, giving the Bulldogs their second win this season over a ranked opponent. This season, the Bulldogs have yet to play a team not ranked in the ITA top 75.
MSU head coach Per Nilsson said while it didn’t look pretty, his team got the job done.
“We try to play the toughest schedule we can. It is scary to play these guys.”
UAB started strong in the Bulldogs’ home opener, but MSU would rally and finish very strong. On court six, junior Chris Doerr dropped the first four games of his match with UAB’s Daniel Moser. Doerr refocused his game and won 12 of the next 13 games in what would be indicative of the Bulldogs’ afternoon.
“I came out feeling negative. I let that get to me,” Doerr said. “I realized that the set could be lost right there. Coach told me to start with my backhand and come to the net, which is one of my strengths. The other guy just could not handle that.”
The one dark spot of the afternoon for the Bulldogs was seeing sophomore Antonio Lastre dropping his first singles match of the season at the No. 5 position to Alex Emery. After losing the first set and trading the first six games in set two, Lastre won three games in a row to force a super tiebreaker for the point. Lastre looked dominant winning the first three points and Emery looked disinterested, even breaking to look out to the empty football practice fields near the A.J. Pitts Tennis Center. Lastre then lost 10 of the next 12 points to lose the set and the point.
“Lastre has been really solid,” Nilsson said. “His opponent today got him away from his game. He just didn’t make the adjustments today like he usually does.”
With the match starting to get out of hand, Nilsson rallied his team.
“We told the team before the match that we are the better team,” he said. “We didn’t start good, but no one panicked. Everyone just settled down.”
Nilsson’s team will play Memphis and Georgia State this weekend before starting SEC play against Tennessee March 6. Every SEC team is currently ranked in the ITA top 75.

Women

The women’s tennis team recorded their best start since 2005 last weekend with wins at Tulane and South Alabama, reaching 6-0.
MSU dominated Tulane (4-6) for its first win over the Green Wave since 2001, but weather delayed the match overnight Friday with the Bulldogs only one game from the clinching point.
When play resumed indoors on Saturday, MSU made short work clinching the valued fourth point. However, the Bulldogs were short a day’s rest going into Sunday’s match with South Alabama.
Senior Martina Banikova said fatigue was a factor in Sunday’s match.
“We had to wait Friday until late into the night and we played Saturday, so today [Sunday] we were nervous about how we were going to handle it,” she said. “It was a tough weekend. We were tired today, but we were fighting hard and we have good spirit.”
Banikova picked up the needed fourth point in Sunday’s 4-3 win over No. 56 South Alabama (3-3). She also teamed with senior Elna de Villiers for the partnership’s fifth win this season. MSU has won the doubles point in every match this season despite the current three game skid that No. 1 doubles partnership Natalia Mayuk and Olesya Tsigvintseva are currently experiencing.
Banikova pulled her own singles record to 3-2 this season with the clinching game. However, the Bulldogs’ six game winning streak has been grounded in the success of the middle of the lineup.
“I am not going to put pressure on them, but I feel really confident that they are going to fight every time they step on the court.” Banikova said of her teammates.
No. 4 player de Villiers is 4-2 despite dropping her Sunday match to South Alabama’s Erica Krisan. At the No. 3 position, Radka Ferancova is 6-0 on the year, garnering praise from head coach Tracy Lane.
“From how [Ferancova] has been playing, she should be winning at No. 3 for us,” Lane said. “Her opponents have been pretty tough, but she finds a way to win. It is great knowing that if she is playing her best tennis that we will get a win.”
To Lane, each one of these games is solely preparation for the upcoming SEC schedule.
“The middle has been very strong,” Lane said. “That’s important because in our conference, the top of the lineups are composed of players ranked in the top 30 in the nation. You have to have people in the middle and bottom of your lineup who can win.”
Lane is also keeping the team focused on the goal of winning every non-conference game.
“Our focus has always been to win all our non conference matches,” she said. “The fact that our opponents are ranked inspires us a little more. It is always nice to have wins over ranked opponents, but we have much greater goals than just beating South Alabama.”
Lane said her team’s success in doubles is fueling the team with both of State’s 2009 wins over ranked teams coming from winning doubles points.
“All these matches, when you are playing a team where you are evenly matched, come down to the doubles points,” Lane said. “It gives you an advantage, it puts your team in the right mindset. Our goal now is to win all three doubles match-ups so we are in an even better position.”