Following a riveting upset of
No. 16 LSU on Senior Day, the
No. 51 Mississippi State women’s
tennis team (10-8, 1-8 SEC) finishes
the regular season at No. 25
Ole Miss (11-8, 4-7 SEC).
MSU picked up its first SEC
win since defeating Alabama 5-2
in 2007 with the victory over
LSU. The 27-game SEC losing
streak was the longest of current
MSU coach Tracy Lane’s tenure.
Sunday, with the match tied
3-3 after the completion of singles
matches, the senior doubles
team of Martina Banikova and
Elna de Villiers delivered the upset
of the Tigers.
“It was a good feeling,” Banikova
said of winning the first SEC
match of the season. “I was mad
that we were losing. We were behind
but we never stopped fighting.”
After falling behind 3-1 in the
last home match for Banikova, de
Villiers and fellow senior Daniela
Juskova, the Bulldogs staged a
massive comeback for State’s first
conference win.
“We played like a different
team today,” Lane said. “I told
our girls before the match that if
we want to win, we have to forget
about the past and look to the future.
Today, it is like we started a
new season and I am so proud of
the way we fought today.”
The match started with the
Bulldogs and Tigers trading
points on courts one and two.
LSU’s No. 17 nationally-ranked
singles player Megan Falcon took
back to back 6-0 sets to defeat
Martina Banikova. MSU responded
with freshman Olesya
Tsigvintseva taking a straight set
win from Mykala Hedberg.
LSU then knocked off State’s
other two seniors to build a 3-1
lead and put the Tigers on the
brink of clinching the match.
Tsigvintseva was named SEC
Freshman of the Week for her efforts.
In order to force the deciding
doubles matches which would
serve as the clinching points of
the match, the Bulldogs needed
to rally from a set down in both
remaining singles matches. MSU
junior Valeriya Makarycheva
took the final two sets of her
match from a tired Staten Spencer.
The equalizing point came
from junior Radka Ferancova
who won back-to-back tiebreakers
to take sets two and three over
LSU’s Whitney Wolf.
“It was a come-from-behind
day,” Lane said. “[Ferancova]
came back, but the same scenario
has happened to her a lot this
season where she was up then the
other player rallied. I am just very
proud of the girls. All nine of
them did what we needed them
to do today.”
Right as singles play concluded,
rain moved over the MSU campus
and the match was moved indoors
to McCarthy Gymnasium
for doubles matches.
A cautious coach, Lane said
she knew the Bulldogs had the
momentum and had to seize the
match.
“After the [Ferancova] win, we
had the upper edge,” Lane said.
“We knew that they had bigger
serves. On the indoor surface
that matters a lot. We had momentum
and we had to stay aggressive.”
LSU gained an early edge in
both matches through superior
play at the net. LSU’s tandem
of Hannah Robinson and Wolf
took five of the first seven games
from MSU’s Natalia Mayuk
and Tsigvintseva, while LSU’s
Falcon and Hedberg raced to a
6-3 lead over Banikova and de
Villiers.
Both Bulldog pairs rallied, determined
not to let the closest the
team had come to an SEC victory
this season fall as a wasted opportunity.
Both sets of Bulldogs
would force tiebreakers to decide
the match.
Mayuk and Tsigvintseva caged
their Tigers 7-1 in the tiebreaker,
completing their comeback and
setting up the seniors to finish
their careers at MSU in spectacular
fashion.
Banikova enjoyed revenge over
Falcon from their singles encounter
when she and de Villiers took
a 7-2 victory in the final tiebreaker
game.
De Villiers said she thought
the fact it was her last home tennis
match made the victory even
more special.
“It felt really amazing,” she
said. “I have never enjoyed tennis
more than I did during doubles
today. We have worked so hard
that it is great to finally win.”
The Lady Bulldogs now turn
their attention to Saturday’s season
finale against No. 25 Ole
Miss. The Rebels, currently 11-8
(4-6 SEC) also defeated LSU this
past weekend before falling to
No. 14 Arkansas.
The Rebels feature two nationally
ranked singles players.
Freshman Kristi Boxx is ranked
No. 32, and Sophomore Karen
Nijssen is ranked No. 71. The
Boxx-Nijssen pair, ranked No.
35 in doubles, put together a
nine-match winning streak in the
middle of the SEC season in the
first doubles position before losing
form in April.
The Lady Bulldogs have not
defeated the Rebels since 1989,
losing 19 consecutive times. The
significance of the streak is not
lost on the Rebel players.
“Everybody kind of gets it, but
we’ve harped on it the last few
weeks,” Rebel senior Mimi Renaudin
said. “We don’t want to
lose to Mississippi State.”