The Mississippi State women’s tennis team returned from the Ole Miss Tournament in Oxford with two singles titles and a doubles title.
Sophomore Renee Joseph won the White Draw singles title, defeating Audrey Bordeleau of Arkansas 6-2, 6-3 in the finals. Joseph, a native of Rock Hill, S.C., was victorious over Samford’s Whitney Warren 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinal round and earned a spot in the finals with a 6-3, 6-3 semifinals victory over Arkansas’s Rachel Wilhelm.
Two MSU freshmen faced off in the finals of the Silver Draw as Elna de Villiers won the title in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 decision over Tatiana Feit. De Villiers moved into the finals with a 6-2, 6-4 semifinals victory over Southern Mississippi’s Chelsea Bond.
After Feit topped Arkansas’s Lindsay Brown 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals, she earned her place in the finals with a 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 victory over Sarah Sabin of Ole Miss in the semifinals.
The doubles team of Polina Kokoulina and Elna de Villiers brought home the doubles title from the Blue Draw after an 8-5 victory over the Ole Miss duo of Carlin Cochran and Ksenia Tokarieva in the finals.
The team of Kokoulina and de Villiers defeated the tandem of Anna Belle Bares of Troy and Sarah Sabin of Ole Miss 8-2 to reach the title match after a quarterfinals win on Friday.
MSU’s 89th-ranked Anastasia Kugakolova advanced to the quarterfinals of the Red Draw in singles before falling to Alabama’s Maria Zivcicova 6-3, 6-1.
“We ended on a positive note,” head coach Tracy Lane said. “It was good to get three wins on the final day. We will rest up for a couple of days and then prepare for our next tournament.”
Men’s
The Mississippi State Men’s tennis team opened its season this past weekend at the Crimson Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Nine Bulldogs competed in singles and doubles competition in the three-day event.
Phillippe Frayssinoux, Ivan Bjelica and Jose-Carlos Pinto all won two matches a piece to advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday.
In the B draw, top-seeded Pinto advanced to the semifinals before falling to third seed Adrien Debryne of Minnesota.
In other B division action, MSU junior Arnaud Roussel and freshman Eric Lim both split a pair of matches.
Lim, making his Bulldog debut, was also victorious in his first match of the day, winning 6-4, 1-6, 1-0(5). He then fell to fourth-seeded Peter Bjork.
In the A draw, Bulldog Ivan Bjelica made it to the quarterfinals before falling to top-seeded and 24th-ranked Robert Searle of Rice 6-2, 6-1.
State’s 84th-ranked Philippe Frayssionoux fell to Colorado’s Eric Molnar in the quarterfinals in a 6-3, 6-1 decision.
Frayssinoux breezed through his first match, winning 6-2, 6-4 and punched his ticket to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-2 win over William and Mary’s Alex Cojanu in the round of 16.
In doubles, the Bulldog duo of Josh Irey and Pierre Mouillon advanced to the quarterfinals before they were defeated. In Division B doubles action, Alabama’s team of Dan Buikema and Sammy Struyf defeated Irey and Mouillon 8-4 in the semifinals.