Following a road win against Ole Miss and improving to a five-game win streak, the No. 16 Mississippi State University men’s tennis team split matches against No. 15 Florida and No. 40 South Carolina.
Despite an early lead in the match against the Gators, MSU would drop four consecutive matches in singles play to fall 4-1 Friday afternoon at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
The loss snapped a 14-match home winning streak dating back to last season.
With the first two matches of the doubles point split, MSU freshman Florian Lakat and junior Tassilo Schmid battled to force a tiebreaker and eventually knocked off Florida’s Maxx Lipman and Elliot Orkin 8-7(2), giving the Bulldogs the early 1-0 lead. 
Schmid said the whole team played with energy to fight for the doubles point win.
“It was awesome to play with (Lakat). He gave so much energy to me and the other guys,” he said. “It helped us, but in the end we still lost.”
The Gators stormed back in singles play, taking the first set on four of six courts. UF’s Lipman and Orkin claimed the first two matches to give the Gators a 2-1 lead. 
Despite a Bulldog rally, the Gators carried the momentum on court two and six to take the match 4-1. 
MSU Head Coach Per Nilsson said a slow start in singles play proved to be the difference for the Dogs.
“We lost straight sets on court three and five, and I feel like we should have made it into some three-setters there. That hurt us a little bit because we knew the other courts were going to be real close,” he said. “Our guys fought hard, but it takes a little more to beat a top-16 team like Florida.”
MSU found redemption in Columbia, S.C., as the Dogs knocked off the Gamecocks 4-1 Sunday afternoon.
The Dogs began the day in a similar situation as Friday with two of the three doubles matches split. This time, freshman Rishab Agarwal and senior Zach White played hero with an 8-6 match win to claim the doubles point. 
First off the court, White carried the momentum into singles play. White claimed a 6-4, 6-2 win and extended the Bulldog lead to 2-0. Sophomore Jordan Angus followed in White’s footsteps with a 7-5, 6-3 win before USC’s Kyle Koch put the Gamecocks on the board with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Schmid. 
With one point left until clinch, No. 67 Lakat defeated USC’s Andrew Adams in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 to earn the victory.
The win gave MSU (18-7, 7-4) its seventh SEC win of the season, eclipsing the six MSU wins last year, and moved the Dogs one win away from tying for seventh place in all-time wins in a season.  
The Dogs return home for its final match of the year Sunday against Texas A&M at 12 p.m. Along with Super Bulldog Weekend festivities, MSU will also recognize seniors Malte Stropp and White. 
Nilsson said Stropp and White have helped build MSU into a national power, and he is proud of his players’ accomplishments at MSU.
“They’ve helped build the program where we want it to be. It’s incredible to see how fast the four years have gone. It feels like just yesterday those guys showed up here. It’s going to be an emotional day for sure,” Nilsson said. “Those guys embody what we’re about. They’ll do whatever it takes, and they have given up a lot. I’m proud of them for that.”