On an afternoon that was almost too windy for tennis, the 53rd-ranked Mississippi State men’s tennis team picked up its second home win in a row on Sunday, defeating South Alabama 4-3. In the No. 1 position, Ivan Bjelica and Philippe Frayssinoux earned an impressive 8-5 win over South Alabama’s 8th-ranked pair Jack Baker and Marek Sramek, handing the Bulldogs an early lead. With the roster depleted by injury, head coach Per Nilsson was pleased with the winning combination of Bjelica and Frayssinoux.
“It was great. That was a big win for them,” Nilsson said. “We didn’t really know how we were going to play the doubles and decided to do it that way to give them a chance to play a ranked team. They started off pretty badly but then really got it going.”
The singles were closely fought, with junior Ryan Farlow handing the Bulldogs another point after defeating Robert Hodel 6-2, 6-1 on court 3, and freshman Antonio Lastre made it 3-0 for State with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Aaron Krisan soon after.
State’s Pjotrs Necajevs battled back from a setback against R.J. Nagel to force the tiebreaker, only to fall 3-6, 6-4, 0-1 in the end to give South Alabama its first point.
In the No. 1 position, Ivan Bjelica lost two tiebreakers in a row after completely controlling the first set. The senior dominated his first set against Marek Sramek before narrowly dropping the second set and decisive tiebreaker to lose 6-0, 6(2)-7, 0(8)-1. Bjelica needed treatment during a break in the second set, a factor that Nilsson said contributed to the disparity of scores between the two sets.
“Ivan looked like he was winning easy, but he has a hip problem that he’s had for a few days now and it looks like it got him pretty good today,” Nilsson said. “We need to get in the training room and get some therapy going.”
Last to fall was the 14th-ranked Philippe Frayssinoux in his closely fought match with South Alabama’s 20th-ranked Jack Baker. The match took a toll on Frayssinoux, who began the season nursing an injury, and it showed when he collapsed with cramp midway through the tiebreaker.
Despite the injury, Frayssinoux carried on to finish the match, but it proved too much to overcome, and the match ended in a 6-4, 6(1)-7, 0(9)-1 loss for the senior.