The Mississippi State University men’s tennis team remains undefeated at home after knocking off the Tulane University Green Wave by a score of 4-3 at the Rula Tennis Pavilion in Starkville Friday afternoon.
Freshman Petar Jovanovic and graduate Gregor Ramskogler defeated the Green Wave tandem of Fynn Kuenkler and Sam Scherer 6-4 to open the match, but Tulane did not go down without a fight. The Green Wave bounced back to tie MSU, but the No. 42-ranked duo of juniors Carles Hernandez and Nemanja Malesevic won a tie-breaker to secure the first point of the match for MSU.
After back-to-back wins from Jovanovic and graduate Ewen Lumsden, the Bulldogs held a dominant 3-0 lead over the Green Wave. Tulane’s Rafael de Alba helped put his team on the board, cutting the Bulldogs’ lead to 3-1. After a tough battle against Kuenkler, Malesevic showed the Bulldog mentality and fought back to secure the win for MSU.
Following the match-clinching win, Malesevic discussed what he saw from the Green Wave.
“(Tulane) pushed us, and I saw that it could get tricky,” Malesevic said. “I had to really lock it in because I might be the one to clinch. But I also didn’t want to think too much about it. It went through my head, but I tried to delete that as fast as I could and focus on the next point and that worked out pretty well.”
The Green fought back late to secure two final points in the match to make the final score 4-3. MSU men’s tennis moves to a 6-1 overall record and remains unbeaten at home in 2023, but there is always room for improvement. Bulldogs head coach Matt Roberts said that Friday’s match allowed his team to build their resilience.
“One of the key takeaways today was about the boys building their resilience,” coach Roberts said. “Every match is going to have challenges. Welcoming those challenges like a Bulldog is going to allow them to grow and build their confidence.”
The Bulldogs’ next match will be a doubleheader, as they host Presbyterian College at 9 a.m. and Jackson State University at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Rula Tennis Pavilion.
