The Mississippi State men’s tennis team swept its weekend home stand with a 4-1 victory over Kentucky and a 5-2 win versus Vanderbilt.The victory over Kentucky gave the team its first Southeastern Conference win of the year and brought an end to a seven-match losing streak.
A poor start for the Bulldogs saw Kentucky earn the first point after taking all three doubles matches.
Ivan Bjelica and Philippe Frayssinoux lost 8-3 before Kentucky clinched the point with Ryan Farlow and Chris Doerr’s 8-5 loss.
Artem Kuznetsov and Pjotrs Necajevs fought back from 7-2 down to force a tiebreaker against UK’s 22nd-ranked Peter Bjork and Will Ward but eventually succumbed to an 8-7(3) defeat.
The Bulldogs fared much better in the singles, claiming the first set in four of the matches.
State freshman Doerr leveled the score with a 6-1, 6-2 victory, followed by Frayssinoux’s 6-1, 5-3 default win over UK’s 96th-ranked Will Ward to put the Bulldogs ahead.
The 39th-ranked Bjelica downed UK’s 88th-ranked Bruno Agostinelli with a pair of 6-2 sets, furthering State’s advantage to 3-1.
Victory was assured after Farlow won 6-4, 6-2, leaving the remaining two matches suspended.
State carried its momentum into Sunday, earning a 5-2 win against 34th-ranked Vanderbilt.
The tandem of Kuznetsov and Necajevs provided a winning start for the Bulldogs, earning an 8-3 doubles victory.
Losing by the same score, Doerr and Farlow left it to Bjelica and Frayssinoux to clinch the first point for State with an 8-3 win.
In the singles, Kuznetsov was first off the court after cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 series victory.
Doerr’s 6-4, 6-3 win then gave State a 3-0 advantage.
Vanderbilt briefly closed the gap as Necajevs fell to a 7-5, 6-1 defeat, but Bjelica’s 6-1, 7-5 win after a grueling second set ended any hopes of a comeback for the Commodores.
Frayssinoux defaulted in his third after Bjelica’s clincher, but Farlow played on to bring the final score to 5-2 after his three-set victory.
Head coach Sylvain Guichard hopes the team does not get carried away after ending its drought with two impressive victories.
“We go day by day with these young guys,” Guichard said. “It’s important we don’t cut corners, don’t drop our chins, and we learn from our mistakes.
“Learning is more important than anything else right now.”
The Bulldogs hope to earn another conference win this Friday as they take on the 72-ranked Arkansas.