It was a weekend of disappointment for State’s tennis squads, as the men dropped two close matches at home to LSU and Arkansas while the lady netters are still in search of their first conference win after a loss away to Arkansas.Men
After rainy weather prompted the match to be postponed until Saturday, Mississippi State’s netmen failed to upset their conference rivals LSU, falling 2-5 to the 16th-ranked Tigers.
State began well as the doubles team of Ivan Bjelica and Philippe Frayssinoux earned an 8-4 win over LSU’s 30th-ranked pair of James Cluskey and Michael Venus. LSU responded as Sebastian Carlsson and Jan Zelezny edged Chris Doerr and Tanner Stump 8-2 before claiming the doubles point with Kevin Dessauer and Colt Gaston’s 8-5 victory over State’s Ryan Farlow and Pjotrs Necajevs.
In the singles, State freshman Antonio Lastre dropped a 6-1, 6-2 match to Cluskey as LSU doubled their lead. Chris Doerr brought one back for the Bulldogs with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Julien Gautier, but LSU was soon up 3-1 after Dessauer’s 6-0, 6-2 win over State’s Ryan Farlow.
State’s 26th-ranked Bjelica downed the 47th ranked Venus with a pair of 6-4 sets to narrow the gap as the last two matches went into third sets.
The final scoreline belied the effort put in by the Bulldogs, as the match came down to the third sets of the two final matches.
Sophomore Artem Kuznetsov battled back from 2-5 down to force a third set, only to fall 6-7, 7-6, 0-6 after Frayssinoux’s 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss to LSU’s 118th-ranked Jan Zelezny had clinched the match for the Tigers.
After losing two close matches last weekend, head coach Per Nilsson admitted the team could be playing better.
“LSU is a great team,” Nilsson said. “But it’s frustrating to know that if we were playing like the way we should a lot of the matches that we lost closely would have gone differently.”
Sophomore Chris Doerr, one of two Bulldog point earners on the day, was pleased with his win but said the team’s performance comes first.
“”I think I played well today,” Doerr said. “But if the team doesn’t win, then it really doesn’t matter. You never know with matches like these, it could have swung either way.”
Sunday’s match against Arkansas saw the Bulldogs get off to a shaky start after conceding the doubles point early on.
In singles, Frayssinoux brought the scores level with a pair of 6-2 sets before the Razorback’s lead was restored as Chris Nott overcame Lastre 6-3, 6-4.
Farlow’s 6-0, 6-4 win was then canceled out by Doerr’s 5-7, 2-6 loss, and the match clincher came after State’s Maximilien Genuini lost 6(5)-7, 2-6.
Bjelica earned a late point for State with his 6-4, 7-6(4) win over No. 99 Blake Strode, but it was scant consolation for the Bulldogs after losing 3-4 for the third time in four matches.
Women
After bad weather postponed their match against LSU until Wednesday, State’s lady netters lost a tough 2-5 match on Sunday against No. 14 Arkansas.
MSU got off to a rough start against the Lady Razorbacks, conceding the doubles point after losing on all three courts.
Arkansas’ Nanar Airapetian earned the first singles point with her 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Valeriya Makarycheva before State’s Elna de Villiers narrowed the gap with a 6-2, 7-6(4) win over Anouk Tigu.
Arkansas’ No. 1 ranked Aurelija Miseviciute added to the Razorback’s advantage with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of State’s Martina Banikova, earning her a record 45 singles wins for the season.
The clinching point for Arkansas came with Audrey Bordeleau’s 6-4, 6-1 win over State’s Tatiana Feit before the 62nd-ranked Ela Kaluder defeated State’s No. 112 Renee Joseph 6-2, 6-3 for Arkansas’ final point of the day.
Radka Ferancova then picked up State’s second and final point of the match with a pair of 6-2 sets over Maryori Franco.