The Mississippi State women’s tennis team kicked off the 2012 spring campaign hosting Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday afternoon.
Rainy conditions forced the shortened matches to be played indoors at McCarthy Gym, but that did not phase the Dogs and they struck quickly. MSU first swept the opening doubles point with an 8-2 win from newcomers Khrystyna Pavlyuk and Alexandra Perper followed by an 8-4 victory from Ekaterina Iakovleva and Naomi Tran.
The Dogs carried that momentum into singles play as Iakovleva won straight sets 6-0, 6-0 and Perper clinched a 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 victory to give her team a 3-0 advantage. The match-clinching win came from Pavlyuk as she took the final match of the day 7-6, 6-1 and gave the Bulldogs a 4-0 victory.
“Every match is important for our team,” Pavlyuk said. “My teammates also do a great job, and all matches were important for the win.”
Head coach Daryl Greenan said he was pleased with his team’s performance, especially on the doubles matches.
“The top of our lineup did a great job earning that 4-0 sweep,” Greenan said. “Three of the girls were playing in their first duo matches of their career, so it was nice to see them step up and get those wins.”
The Bulldogs took the court again Sunday, this time at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre as they dropped a close loss 4-3 to Northwestern State.
Trailing in the deciding doubles match, duo Perper and Pavlyuk stormed a valiant rally to win 8-6 and clinch the doubles point to put the Dogs up 1-0.
“We were down 6-2 and then woke up mentally and physically,” said Perper. “We started to make shots, and our shot selection was perfect, and we won 8-6.”
Perper and Tran began the singles matches with identical 6-3, 6-1 wins to give the Dogs a 3-0 lead overall. However competition stiffened as the Demons of evened the overall match at 3-3 by taking the next three singles points. In the final match of the day, MSU’s Iakovleva dropped a heartbreaking match by a score of 6-1, 6-7, 4-6.
“We had chances and missed our opportunities,” Greenan said. “It’s girls who are playing in their first weekend of duo matches, so there were a little bit of nerves, but they’ll be fine, and we’ll settle down and build confidence as the season goes on.”
Men’s tennis downs TCU 4-1
After a rain-plagued weekend the No. 14 Mississippi State men’s tennis team topped the TCU Horned Frogs 4-1 in a shortened match Saturday to improve to 5-2 on the season.
A rain delay on Friday afternoon pushed the matches to Saturday morning, when the Bulldogs got off to a quick pace to open the doubles matches. Twelfth-ranked duo Louis Cant and Malte Stropp breezed to an 8-1 win before James Chaudry and Ethan Wilkinson dropped a tough 8-6 decision. Down 6-5 in the deciding match to clinch the doubles point, tandem George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin rallied for an 8-6 win and built confidence for the Dogs heading into the singles matches leading 1-0.
“It’s always important to get the first point for the doubles team,” Coupland said. “It really reflects how the rest of the match goes. The key for us is to get that doubles point every match and come out in singles as fired up like we lost it.”
The Bulldogs came out firing in the singles matches before play was halted due to rain. The matches were then moved to Tuscaloosa to be resumed with MSU leading in four of the six matches.
After MSU’s Zach White dropped a tough match, Chaudry clinched the final match in the second set tiebreak with a 6-3, 7-6 win and gave the Bulldogs the 4-1 victory.
“It’s quite difficult when you have a rain delay then have to travel an hour and a half,” Chaudry said. “But the main thing was when we were warming up in Tuscaloosa, we had to try and get our game faces on and knew the first ten 10-15 minutes were really going to be key.”
The Bulldogs will now focus on in-state rival Ole Miss as they travel to Jackson Thursday to take on the No. 21 Rebels, a match head coach Per Nilsson said will be no easy task.
“It’s a really tough match for us,” Nilsson said. “Ole Miss has always been good indoors, but we’re going to get ready and go play good tennis.”