The 48th-ranked Mississippi State women’s tennis team concluded a two-match road trip in the state of Florida with a 6-1 loss to No. 32 Florida International Sunday morning. The 6-1 loss for head coach Tracy Lane’s Lady Dogs (3-3) is the second in its many matches. The squad dropped a decision by that same margin Friday against 38th-ranked Miami. State took the early edge by winning the doubles point over the 32nd-ranked Golden Panthers (4-1). Anneliese Rose and Cristina Campana knocked off senior Carole Soubis and junior Elaine Fagan 8-4 at the No. 1 position, but the Lady Dogs rallied to win the final two doubles matches to claim the opening point of the match.
Sophomore Camila Sagae and freshman Magdolna Rekasi posted an 8-5 win over Maria Montoya and Dominique osenberg, and the tandem of Yumi Ueda and Justyna Switala clinched the opening point with an 8-3 victory over Mei Ly and Agnes Buronyi at No. 3.
Despite picking up the early advantage, State was unable to hold on in singles play, as FIU claimed wins in six close matches. Soubis dropped a hard-fought decision in straight sets to 94th-ranked Rose. Rose won the opening set over State’s lone senior 6-3, and then clinched the win by holding on to win the tiebreak in the second set.
Sagae fell 6-2, 6-3 to Buronyi at the No. 2 spot. Ueda, playing No. 3 singles, took FIU’s Ly the full three sets. Ly won the opening set in convincing 6-1 fashion, but Ueda rebounded to dominate the second set 6-2 and force the third and deciding set. Ly claimed the win by taking the finale 6-3.
Playing at the No. 4 position, Fagan dropped the first set of her match with Campana 6-3 before falling 7-6 in the second. Rekasi fell to Montoya 6-0, 6-3 at the No. 5 position, while Switala dropped a 6-3, 6-2 decision to Marina Raic to close out singles action.
The Lady Bulldogs conclude a three-match road trip Friday, when Lane’s netters head to Birmingham, Ala., for a 2 p.m. match with UAB.