Mississippi State’s men and women’s tennis teams have both began gearing up to kick off their season, and with fresh faces on each team, this season should prove interesting. With a new season and a new coach, expectations are high for Mississippi State men’s tennis team, which begins the new season September 14-16 at the MTSU Blue Raider Invitational.
Former Bulldog standout Per Nilsson returns to Starkville from Pepperdine University as MSU’s new men’s head coach. Nilsson comes having helped guide the Pepperdine Waves to a 119-38 record during his five years as assistant coach, including their first ever national championship in the 2006 campaign.
In the 2005 campaign, the Waves climbed to No. 8 nationally from 27th in 2004, with
Nilsson being named Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s West Region Assistant Coach of the Year.
Nilsson also lettered in tennis for four years at MSU from 1991-94, and was ranked as high as third in the nation and while helping the Bulldogs to a Southeastern Conference championship and a program-best semi final appearance at nationals. In the time between this first stint in Starkville and coaching at Malibu, Nilsson spent nearly seven years as a tennis professional in the Atlanta, Ga. area.
It is that winning mentality that Nilsson hopes to bring to State’s squad, who were 7-14 in dual match competition last spring.
“We won the National Championship two years ago (at Pepperdine), and we did it without having the best players,” Nilsson said. “So hopefully we can emulate that same kind of team spirit here.”
Nilsson has brought in just one new recruit, Max Genvini, to bolster the squad. Hailing from France, Genvini replaces another Frenchman, Edouard Benchetrit, along with Eric Lim, who both left the team.
Ivan Bjelica and Phillip Frayssinoux return to the squad after having been selected to the first and second men’s tennis All-Southeastern Conference respectively. Bjelica, currently ranked 41st nationally, also earned a berth in the 2007 NCAA singles championship last season. The pair is also ranked 42nd nationally in doubles.
Also returning for the Bulldogs is Christopher Doerr, Ryan Farlow, Artem Kuznetsov and Pjotrs Necajevs.
Overall, Nilsson says his plans for the future will focus largely on team building.
“We want to try to build a team here,” Nilsson said. “The whole goal is to have everyone on the same page, not just six people playing tennis.”
Former coach Sylvain Guichard, the 2005 SEC co-coach of the year, resigned earlier this summer, having led the Bulldogs to four NCAA appearances during his six years in charge.
The Mississippi State women’s tennis team begins their fall lineup of individual competition with the Ole Miss Tournament in Oxford, September 14-16.
The squad retains all the same players from last season, while adding one new face. Sophomore Radka Ferancova, a transfer from Temple University and a native of Lucenec, Slovakia, will be welcomed into the team already consisting of two Slovakians in Martina Banikova and Daniela Juskova.
“We really lucked out in getting her, she kind of just fell into our lap,” head coach Tracy Lane said. “She’s going to be a great addition and do really well. She’s definitely going to play in the lineup, and she gives us more depth as well, which is what we needed.”
State junior Banikova goes into the new season ranked 43rd nationally after finishing 17-15 overall last season and advancing to the second round of the NCAA singles championship in May. She was just the sixth player in MSU history to earn a selection to the tournament.
After such a fantastic season from Banikova, who was not even ranked at the start of last year, Lane hopes others on the team, like senior Renee Joseph, can follow in her footsteps.
“It depends on how healthy our players stay this year,” Lane says. “But we always look to seniors to have a stellar year. So for players like Renee Joseph, we’d love to see that happen this year.”
In all, the lady netters will be competing in five tournaments this fall. Lane says the team’s goal for this season is simply “to win.”
“To be pretty frank, we really just want to win some more game this season,” Lane said. “We also want to make it to the post season. We haven’t made it in the last few years so that is definitely our goal this season.