Coming off a 2011 season that saw Mississippi State’s men’s tennis team win the SEC West title, the Bulldogs will begin their 2012 campaign this weekend in Hawaii.
MSU returns all of the key players from the 2011 squad that finished 20th in the nation. The Bulldogs will begin the 2012 season ranked 16th in the preseason polls.
The season will officially begin at 2 p.m. Friday against Santa Barbara in Honolulu and will continue Saturday when State takes on Hawaii.  The Bulldogs will be leaning on a trio of seniors who received second team All-SEC honors a season ago.
George Coupland, a Hatfield, England native is the highest ranked among MSU’s players, beginning the season at No. 32.  Fellow senior Louis Cant is ranked No. 45 in the preseason polls, while Artem Ilyushin is not ranked because he did not compete in the fall.
Also competing for the Bulldogs will be reining SEC Freshman of the Year Malte Stropp, as well as fellow sophomore Zach White. 
Next weekend MSU will take on a pair of Big 10 schools as it travels to Michigan State and Ohio State for matches.
The first home match for the Bulldogs will be on Feb. 3 against TCU at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.