Playing the toughest part of its SEC schedule over the weekend, the MSU men’s tennis team posted its biggest win in a decade, only to follow it with a close loss. The Bulldogs now sit atop the SEC West with an overall record of 10-7 and 5-3 in SEC play.
The No. 32 Bulldogs upset the No.4 Tennessee Volunteers Friday at the A.J Pitts Tennis Centre with a dominating score of 6-1. The Volunteers were undefeated in SEC play, and had compiled an overall record of 16-2 before Friday’s contest. MSU junior George Coupland said he was pleased with his team’s play.
“This was an incredible win for our team and our fans that came out,” said Coupland. “Everybody believed we could pull off this win, and when we are feeling that way, we think we can play with anybody.”
The Bulldogs started their dominance of the Volunteers during doubles play. In the first match, the top-ranked doubles duo of Tennessee’s Boris Conkic and John-Patrick Smith defeated the No. 84 Bulldogs Louis Cant and Malte Stropp 8-3. The Bulldogs were able to even the score when Coupland and Artem Ilyushin paired to pull off an upset of the No. 61 ranked Volunteers Tennys Sandgren and Rhyne Williams by an equal 8-3 score.
For the clinching double point, the Bulldogs turned to James Chaudry and Zach White. They defeated the Vols Matteo Fago and Jarryd Chaplin in a close 9-8 tiebreak win, giving the overall 1-0 advantage going into singles play.
To start off singles play, the Volunteer’s Sandgren evened the overall score with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over MSU’s Chaudry. This would be the only point the Volunteers would claim all afternoon as State began to dismantle its opponent in front of a large crowd.
The Bulldogs claimed a 2-1 lead when Cant, ranked 77th nationally, overcame a first set deficit to defeat Conkic 7-5, 6-0. The next match pitted No. 94 Ilyushin against Tennessee’s No. 12 Smith. Ilyushin went on to claim victory, 6-4, 6-4, which was his highest-ranked win in his career.
Three-time SEC Freshman of the Week Malte Stropp would also register his highest-ranked victory on Friday, defeating No. 56 Fago 6-4, 6-4. This would prove to be the clinching point of the match for MSU, and was also Stropp’s six straight dual match play win.
Coupland went on to defeat No. 4 Williams 7-6(60, 5-6, after Williams defaulted with Stropp already clinching the match. To close up match play for the day, MSU freshman Zach White played three long sets to defeat No. 6 Williams 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Head Coach Per Nilsson was pleased with his team’s performance against such a high-ranking opponent.
“Our guys played up to their potential and got the job done,” said Nilsson. “If we can keep up this type of play going from here on, I feel like we can play anybody in the country.”
The Bulldogs had not registered a win over a top-four opponent since the 2002 season. That season the Bulldogs upset then No.4 Kentucky Wildcats 4-3 in Lexington.
However, the Bulldogs did not have enough momentum to pull off another upset in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the ninth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Georgia has given the Bulldogs trouble in the past, holding a 6-47 advantage all-time. Georgia had won five straight against the Bulldogs before Sunday’s meeting.
State started doubles facing high-ranking Georgia pairs to try to gain the advantage. Cant and Stropp could not hold off the No.11 Georgia’s dobules team of Javier Garrapiz and Hernus Pieters, falling by a  score of 8-2.
MSU claimed its only doubles match win of the day when Coupland and Ilyushin defeated Georgia’s No. 37 team of Sadio Doumbia and Ignacio Toboada 8-3.
The last doubles match went in favor of the Georgia Bulldogs as their tandem of Drake Bernsteen and Will Spencer pulled out a slim victory of 7-6 over MSU’s Chaudry and White. Bernsteen and Spencer’s victory clinched the doubles point for the Bulldogs, making the overall score 1-0.
Singles play started off difficultly for the Bulldogs, as they lost the first three sets. The next point came when MSU’s White loss to Toboada 7-6, 6-1, to give Georgia a 2-0 lead for the day. Next, MSU’s Ilyushin, ranked No. 94, came up short to Georgia’s No. 14 Spencer, 7-6, 6-0. This win extended Georgia’s lead to 3-0 in straight set winsThe final three matches of the day all went to third sets, making Georgia path to victory as difficult as possible. MSU’s next point came when No. 77 Cant defeated Georgia’s Pieters 6-2, 1-6, 6-2. The victory gave Cant his seventh-straight dual match play victory.
The clinching point came when Georgia No. 29 Garrapiz defeated No. 76 Coupland in a long-fought match with the score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. And in the ending match of the day, MSU’s Chaudry was able to defeat Georgia’s No. 54 Doumbia in a third-set tiebreaker for a 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 victory.
“We did show some heart against a great opponent, but we did have some mistakes we will work on,” said Nilsson.  “Our guys didn’t play a complete game. Once we start doing this I think we will be fine. I think our guys know for sure now we can play with anybody, at any time.”
Coupland, who had one of the longest matches of the day, spoke on the loss.
“I think everybody had too many mistakes,” said Coupland. “When you play a team like Georgia, those mistakes can get you beat, and that is what happened today. Burt we will bounce back.”
The Bulldogs are looking to bounce back on the road next week against another pair of SEC foes. The Bulldogs travel to face No. 18 Auburn Friday, April 8, at 5 p.m. and then followed with a trip to Tuscaloosa to face No. 43 Alabama on Sunday.