Mississippi State’s men’s tennis team, ranked 41st nationally in
the latest Omni Hotels Collegiate Rankings released Wednesday, will
host 14th-ranked Vanderbilt Friday on the MSU campus. Match time is
set for 2 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
The Bulldogs are 5-7 overall and 1-3 in Southeastern Conference
play after splitting a pair of matches on the road last weekend.
State’s victory came on Friday, when it upset Alabama, which is now
ranked 15th in the country.
Vanderbilt will enter the contest 11-2 overall and 2-2 in league
competition. The Commodores most recently defeated 44th-ranked
Louisville 7-0 Wednesday in Nashville in a non-conference
affair.
MSU and Vandy have met on the tennis court 35 times in the
modern era (since 1969). State holds a commanding 30-5 series lead
on the Commodores in that time span. MSU has not lost to VU since
1987, having won 19 consecutive matches in the series, the most
recent being a 4-3 victory in Nashville last season.
State is led by junior all-American Romain Ambert who is 26-8 at
the No. 1 singles position during his career and has been ranked as
high as No. 3 nationally. He was named the SEC’s Player of the Week
after going 3-1 in his matches last weekend. He is backed up by
seniors Rene-Charles Combette and Jerome Le Belicard.
Vanderbilt currently has three players ranked among the nation’s
top 75, led by Bobby Reynolds (2nd) and Chad Harris (13th). The
‘Dores also have two doubles teams ranked among the top 50, one in
the top 10.
“Vanderbilt has one of the best teams it has had in a long
time,” MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. “As is indicated by
their rankings, they are very talented. We have a difficult
challenge in front of us with this match. But as I have been
telling our guys, if they continue to play like they have the last
four matches, they will put themselves in a position to win.”
Following Friday’s action, the Bulldogs will prepare for another
big match on Sunday when they welcome 10th-ranked Kentucky. That
contest is slated for a 1 p.m. start at the Pitts Tennis
Centre.
As always, admission to all MSU home tennis matches is free. The
Bulldogs’ home contests can also be followed live on the Internet
on State’s official site,
“http://www.mstateathletics.com”>www.mstateathletics.com.