Mississippi State University women’s tennis hosted two teams Sunday with Baylor at 11 p.m. and Bellarmine at 3 p.m. in the Rula Tennis Pavillion.

Starting with doubles, the Bulldogs lost their point after graduate student Alexandra Mikhailuk and freshman Athina Pitts faced Baylor’s Sierra Berry and Zuzanna Kubacha in a set that ended with a score of 3-3 and unfinished marks. Danielle Tuhten and Miska Kadlexkova of Baylor defeated sophomore Dharani Niroshan and junior Alessia Tagliente 6-0. Baylor’s Isabella Harrison and Liubkv Kostenko defeated senior Chloé Cirotte and freshman Jayna Clemons 6-2.

The Bulldogs lost both their doubles and singles matches against Baylor. Pitta was the only Bulldog to win her individual match against Baylor defeating Liubov Kostenko in a heated battle 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(7).

Despite all their hard work and grit throughout the morning, the Bulldogs dropped their first match of the day 4-1 to Baylor. Head coach Chris Hooshyar discussed what he thinks the two most important aspects are for his players to be successful.

“It showed our physicality and our mentality,” Hooshyar said. “You can’t build anything without those two things being first. So, we’re going to continue to build mentality, continue to build physicality and keep building from there.”

The Bulldogs went on to face Bellarmine that evening. Mikhailuk and Pitta went up against Bellarmine tandum Vendula Kryslova and Ekaterina Tikhonko with a score of 3-4 and an unfinished match. Erica Kanna Hagi and Nikola Kollaritsch of Bellarmine defeated MSU’s  Niroshan and Tagliente 6-2. Marika Caruk and Yeva Kramarova defeated Cirotte and Clemons 6-4.

The Bulldogs managed to turn the outcome around during their singles matches against Bellarmine by winning four consecutive singles matches.

Niroshan got the Bulldogs back on track in her afternoon singles match against Bellarmine with her straight-set singles victory over Yeva Kramarova 6-2, 6-1. Mikhailuk also succeeded in securing her singles match against Marika Caruk 6-2, 6-1, giving Mississippi State a 2-1 lead. Tagliente put the Bulldogs on the brink of victory following her 6-4, 6-3 wins against Nikola Kollaritsch. Cirotte was able to clinch the match with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Vendula Kryslova and this secured the Bulldogs 4-1 win over Bellarmine.

Head coach Hooshyar said that the team has work to do in doubles, and they will sort that out in practice next week.

“We’ve got work to do in doubles,” Hooshyar said. “We’re a little flat-footed, not as aggressive and second guessing a little bit. But those are tennis issues, and we will address those at practice on Tuesday. Baylor is a well-coached team but we fought our you know what’s off. Every one of our girls were fighting and it could’ve gone either way at the end.”

The Bulldogs are now 8-2 and they will face Tulane Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. and New Orleans at 4 p.m. in hopes of building up their record.