This season was not the best for the Mississippi State tennis team, but they have made plans to put that behind them and move forward.
The men’s team made history in Tuscaloosa, Ala., while avenging some early season losses.
The Bulldogs knocked off No. 20 nationally, and the tournament’s five-seed LSU Thursday and became the first 12-seed to win a game since the 12-team format was introduced in 1992 to win an SEC Championship match.
MSU stumbled at first, losing all three doubles matches.
No. 30 Danny Bryan and Colt Gaston defeated Florent Girod and Ryan Farlow first, winning 8-2, followed by James Cluskey and Paul White defeating Eric Lim and Josh Irey, 8-3.
The match on court one was suspended when LSU clinched the doubles point.
After LSU took the early advantage, MSU turned it around and never looked back.
The Bulldogs ran off four straight wins to upset the Tigers. Philippe Frayssinoux easily defeated Danny Bryan, 7-5, 6-0, at the number four spot. Girod was next to win, beating Cluskey at the number five spot 7-6, 6-3. Freshman Lim came away with a win at the number six spot, defeating Martel Campbell 6-3, 6-3. Senior Jose-Carlos Pinto clinched the match, upsetting #110 Gaston 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. The win was the first for the Bulldogs over LSU since 2001.
MSU continued to roll through the tournament, this time avenging a 4-3 loss to four seed Kentucky and advancing to their first semifinal since 1998. The Wildcats jumped on top early and took the doubles point. Alex Hume and Marcus Sundh defeated Ivan Bjelica and Pinto 8-4, and Nate Emge and Bruno Agostinelli defeated Pierre Mouillon and Frayssinoux 8-3. Girod and Irey racked up a win, defeating Greg Johnstone and Kenny Hodge 8-6. Mouillon, Pinto, Frayssinoux and Lim won the four points needed for the Bulldogs.
The run for MSU was ended by top-ranked Georgia in the semifinals, losing 4-0. However, MSU gave UGA a tough fight in the doubles. Frayssinoux and Mouillon upset the #39 duo of Luis Flores and Matic Omerzel by a score of 9-7. The fourth-ranked team in the country, John Isner and Antonio Ruiz, barely came out with a win. Bjelica and Pinto almost had the biggest upset in the tournament, but fell short, losing 9-8 (8-6).
The clinching point for UGA came in number five singles, Colin Purcell over Girod 6-2, 6-3. UGA defeated Ole Miss in the finals 4-0. Georgia remains undefeated. MSU finishes the season with a 6-14 record, 1-10 in conference play. Every opponent at the time they played except two were ranked in the top 75.
The women didn’t have anything in their favor, getting ousted on the first day of action in Gainesville, Fla.. Alabama wasted no time in advancing to the second round of the tournament, winning 4-0. The Tide won the doubles in 51 minutes, with #14 Ashley Bentley and Robin Stephenson defeating Martina Banikova and Elna de Villiers 8-2. In singles, Mari Miller defeated Daniela Juskova 6-1, 6-1 in 56 minutes. Just one minute later Renee Joseph fell to #19 Stephenson 6-2, 6-3. Alabama had one singles match given to them by default.
“We were definitely outplayed,” Mississippi State head coach Tracy Lane said. “It’s hard coming into a match when you’ve already given up a point. We’ve had to work through that the last couple of weeks. Our main focus is just trying to build character within the program right now and make improvements in our game. We’re ready to move forward.”
Number one seed Florida went on to win the tournament, defeating number three Kentucky 4-0. The Lady Bulldogs finished the season with a 3-15 record.