No. 14 Mississippi State University men’s tennis (3-0) found themselves in a position all too familiar when they split the first two doubles pairings against the University of Miami (FL).
On court one, the pair of Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey struggled, losing six games to one. One of the things they struggled with was serving, according to Braun, a junior from Berlin, Germany.
“We have to clean up our serve: we went up pretty early in our service game and just struggled to serve it out,” Braun said. “We have to give them credit, they did a good job of returning. We were not focused enough, and we definitely need to clean up our service.”
Just like Friday’s game against the University of South Florida, the team lost the doubles point in a hard-fought tiebreaker on court three. Head coach Matt Roberts feels the team needed more confidence.
“Obviously, we have got to get more confident in doubles, especially at one,” Roberts said. “We are just tight on big points. The guys have got to get looser, and just understand it’s just a point, and to not put too much pressure on yourself.”
Despite the deficit, the Bulldogs won three singles matches to make it 3-1. Braun was one of the players who won the singles match, and in just two sets. He described the importance of getting his win.
“I think I helped the team out, I got the first or second set overall, so the team could get confidence,” Braun said. “I thought we worked very well together today. Especially Gio, in the middle in between me and Nuno, I think feed off of us pretty well.”
In set three, Giovanni Ordani clinched the match for the Bulldogs as they won by a score of five to two, Roberts described the importance of Ordani winning the match after all the emotion he has gone through.
“That was a huge moment for us today, Broska was Friday, for us to lean on and step up and Giovanni did that today,” Roberts said. “I would say that was the big moment of the day that we really enjoyed seeing.”
MSU will play the University of Wisconsin at 9 a.m. Jan. 27 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, as part of the ITA kickoff weekend.
Roberts said he was grateful for the crowd who came and supported them, and for the victory, which is huge for momentum going into next weekend.
“We got to have a good few days of practice to get ready for the kickoff weekend,” Roberts said. “We will get ready for Wisconsin, they are going to be battling, so we are going to be ready for them. Hopefully have a match where everyone is competing really well together, and no emotions getting in the way, just tough dogs out there.”
