After an impressive showing in the Auburn Invitational last weekend, the MSU men’s tennis team is heading west to the ITA kickoff weekend, which will be hosted by No. 10 Texas A&M.
For junior George Coupland, last weekend’s results, which saw MSU go 20-4 in singles matches and 8-4 in doubles matches, are something to build on as they face tougher competition in College Station. The Bulldogs will face A&M on Saturday and either Miami or Arizona the next day.
“I think last weekend was a great confidence booster for all of us,” Coupland said. “It definitely showed all of the teams what we have the potential of doing and what we can do right now.”
Coupland and fellow junior Artem Ilyushin both had to battle back from losing the first set in their matches on Sunday. After losing the first set 1-6, Coupland rallied to win the second and third sets 7-5 and 6-3 to defeat Auburn’s Alex Stamchev.
Ilyushin lost the first set but swept the next two to beat Auburn’s Tim Hewitt, continuing his five-match win streak.
As the team begins dual play this weekend against a top 10 opponent, fourth-year head coach and MSU graduate Per Nilsson is hoping Coupland and Ilyushin continue to show that type of grit.
“It was good to see that they came back,” Nilsson said. “That’s what we expect from them this year. Louis [Cant], Artem and George are all juniors and high in the lineup. They’re gonna have to lead the young guys.”
Headlining the group of netters are freshmen Zach White and Malte Stropp. White won two of his three matches last weekend, and Stropp was ranked as the 10th best freshman in singles in the country heading into the season. Stropp won all three of his singles matches at the Auburn Invitational.
“I know they’re very good players,” Coupland said of his younger teammates. “Zach has surprised me a few times with the quality tennis he has come up with. If they keep continuing to do that, they will surprise me.”
The trip to Texas this weekend marks the third consecutive weekend that the tennis team will be away from home, and the team still has a trip scheduled to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech the weekend after that. Nilsson said the team is looking to bring quality opponents to MSU’s A.J. Pitts Tennis Center next year instead of having to travel to find good competition.
While the Bulldogs are certainly looking forward to the home opener Feb. 12 against Tulane after playing on the road the entire fall season and the opening month of the spring season, Ilyushin does not mind spending so much time outside of town.
“I would love to stay a weekend in Starkville, honestly, but compared to the chance of beating a top-10 team in the country? I’m ready to go,” Ilyushin, a Granite Bay, Calif. native, said.
One area the travel has not affected is the team’s performance in the classroom. Last fall, Nilsson’s group compiled a 3.85 GPA, the highest of any team in the history of MSU athletics. Six players maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA, while none had lower than a 3.3.
“We have to play the best if we want to be the best,” Nilsson said. “The guys take care of school, so I’m not worried about it. But yeah, it’s going to be nice after this weekend and the next one to be home for a while.”
Nilsson is hoping to see an improvement from his doubles teams this weekend, which are a combined 20-19 thus far in the spring season. The tandem of Coupland and Ilyushin are leading the team with a 5-2 mark, while the duo of Louis Cant and Stropp has posted a 5-3 mark.
A win over a highly-ranked team such as A&M would boost the Bulldogs’ current ranking of 40, and Coupland is not shying away from the importance of this weekend’s matches.
“We try to treat every match the same, but we know that this weekend will be more important than the others,” Coupland said.
Play begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and live stats will be available on mstateathletics.com.