The SEC Men’s Fall Tournament has concluded, and Mississippi State played some of its best tennis of the year during it. They captured two victories in doubles play and lost in the championship of singles play on Sunday.  The Bulldogs traveled to Auburn University and competed with nine other SEC teams. 

On day one MSU impressed thoroughly, finishing with five wins and five losses. Vaughn Hunter started off very hot with a win over Rhys Johnson from Vanderbilt 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, in the round of 64. He could not pull out consecutive victories though, losing to McClain Kessler from Florida 7-6, 1-6, 6-3. That finished the singles tournament for Hunter.

Trevor Foshey also split his singles matches on the first day. He defeated Ryan Smith from Vanderbilt 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, in the round of 64. In the round of 32, he was defeated by Igor Smelyanski from Tennessee 6-1, 6-4. 

The most impressive player from day one was Rishab Agarwal. He won both matches he played on day one, pushing him into the quarterfinals. He defeated Jose Salazar from Arkansas 6-4, 7-6(2), in the round of 64 before defeating Filip Kroljevic from Ole Miss  6-7, 6-3, 6-1 in the round of 32. 

In doubles, Agarwal/Foshey defeated Jess Jones/Sunay Bhat from Tennessee 8-2 to push them  into the quarterfinals. Niclas Braun/Vaughn Hunter lost to Connor Huertas/Joseph Van Dooren of the host team Auburn 8-4. 

On day two, Agarwal started the day off. He was in the quarterfinals, and took down Cameron Klinger from Vanderbilt 1-6, 7-5, 7-6. That advanced him to the semifinals, where he faced Luis Valero from Tennessee. Agarwal  defeated him 6-3, 7-6, which put him in the singles championship for the weekend.

In singles consolation, Braun was in the singles A bracket, where he propelled himself into the finals by defeating Johan den Toom out of Arkansas 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. In the next round, he defeated another Arkansas opponent in Santiago Munoz 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. 

In singles B bracket, Lucas Sanchez also made it to the consolation finals. In his first match of the day, he defeated Bhat from Tennessee by withdrawal. In the next round, he beat another Tennessee player in Marshall Sullivan 6-3, 6-1.

In doubles consolation play, Vaughn/Agarwal was defeated in the quarterfinals by Klinger/Valent from Vanderbilt 8-4. In doubles A Draw Consolation, Braun/Hunter defeated teammates Richey/Edwards from Alabama 8-4. 

On the final day of the tournament, Mississippi State won two doubles brackets. 

To cap off his fantastic run, Agarwal competed in the championship round of singles, but came up short and lost to Elliot Orkin from Florida 6-0, 7-5. He had a very impressive run, and proved to be dominant all weekend.

In singles consolation finals, both MSU players lost to their opponents. In the A round, Braun faced Salazar from Arkansas 3-6, 6-2, 1-6. In singles B, Sanchez lost to Jess Jones from Tennessee 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. 

The doubles brackets   were a little more successful for the Bulldogs. In B doubles, Agarwal/Foshey defeated Viboosh Chandrasekar/Max Sivalls from the host team Auburn 8-2. In A doubles, Braun/Hunter won the most prideful match of the tournament, defeating Filip Kraljevic/Fabian Fallert from TSUN 8-4. 

The Bulldogs will travel to Birmingham, Alabama on   Oct. 30- Nov. 6  then go to Niceville, Florida from Nov.6-13.