Both of the Mississippi State tennis squads ended the 2006 campaign the way any team would try to avoid still riding major losing streaks.
Saturday, both squads ended the season falling to in-state rival Ole Miss, with the women’s team ending the season on an eight-match losing streak; the men a seven-match skid. Neither has won a match in the month of April.
Women
The women lost in a 6-1 decision to the No. 49 Lady Rebels at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
After having one match in the bag due to forfeit by the Lady Dawgs, the Rebels easily won the doubles point. The clinching doubles point came at the No. 1 position, with Martina Banikova and Elna de Villiers falling 8-1 to the 55th ranked tandem of Ilona Somers and Virginia Tomatis.
In singles the Lady Rebels won the first three matches: one by forfeit, one by Somers defeating Banikova 6-0, 6-2 and the clinching one by No. 108 Kseenia Tokarieva defeating Renee Joseph 6-2, 6-3.
Joseph was making a comeback in the second set but was unable to bring it to a third set. The only win of the day came from Tatiana Feit, beating Tomatis 6-1, 6-2.
De Villiers won the first set of her match but was unable to close the door, losing the next two sets 6-0, 10-7.
Daniela Juskova won the first set of her match 7-6(6) but was forced to retire at the beginning of the second set.
“Everyone who’s here is competing well, and I’m very proud of them,” head coach Tracy Lane said after the match.
Men
The Dawgs dropped a 4-3 decision to the No. 13 Rebels on the road in Oxford.
Ole Miss jumped out early to win all three of the doubles points. Ivan Bjelica and Pierre Mouillon entered the match looking for their first win as a doubles duo, but they fell to 0-2 as a team this season, losing 8-4 to No. 8 Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson.
In singles Ole Miss extended their lead to 3-0, quickly. Bram-ten Berge defeated senior Florent Girod 6-2, 6-0, as Robbye Poole defeated freshman Eric Lim 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 6 spot.
The tide would turn in the Bulldogs’ favor, as 81st-ranked Bjelica upset 27th-ranked Claesson 6-4, 6-1 to bring the score to 3-1. Shortly thereafter, Philippe Frayssinoux closed out Jakob Klaeson 6-4, 6-3 to make the score 3-2.
Ole Miss was able to hold off the charging Dawgs clinching the match when No. 97 Mouillon was unable to put away No. 17 Tveit, losing 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(7). Jose-Carlos Pinto knocked off No. 69 Juan Pablo Di Cesare 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 to end the match with the Rebels on top 4-3.
SEC Tournament
With the season now behind both squads, they look forward to their respective SEC tournaments. The women go to Gainesville, Fla., as the 11 seed and will open tournament play against Alabama (10-10).
The Lady Dawgs lost to the Crimson Tide, 5-2, on March 12. The winner of that match goes on to play Kentucky. MSU lost to UK, 0-7, March 24, but Alabama knocked off the Lady Wildcats, 4-3, on March 5.
The Lady Dawgs are severely inexperienced after Anastasia Kugakolova and Polina Kokoulina left the team. Renee Joseph is now the only non-freshman player on the team.
“We can’t control the external factors. All we can do is control the controllable and keep moving forward,” Lane said.
The men will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Thursday to play Louisiana State as the 12th seeded squad in the conference tournament. The Bulldogs lost to the Tigers, 7-0, on April 2.
Like their female counterparts, the winner of that match will move on to play Kentucky, with the Wildcats already claiming victories over both MSU and LSU earlier this season, beating LSU, 4-3, on March 10 and beating MSU, 4-3, on March 24.