The Mississippi State men’s tennis team solidified its position for the NCAA Tournament with an upset over the 18th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament last week.
The match, which lasted five hours, was moved indoors midway through singles play due to stormy weather.
The 28th-ranked Bulldogs advanced to the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2001. However, the win did not come easily.
“Tennessee has beaten Florida, Georgia, and proven they’re a good team,” MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. “We’ve been playing well, but had been losing. Romain (Ambert) gave us a good spark, and that put us over the hump.”
State led 3-2 with each of the last two matches going to the third set. Both matches would move to 5-5 before either team would make a move.
UT’s Simon Rea, ranked 44th nationally, won two games in a row to defeat MSU’s Romain Ambert 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to tie the match at three.
Then, State’s Jose-Carlos Pinto rallied from dropping the first set to defeat Volunteer Ockie Oosthuizen, ranked 115th nationally, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to give the Bulldogs the victory and end their nine-match losing streak.
The match between Pinto and Oosthuizen remained tense throughout. With Oosthuizen serving down 5-6, Pinto had dropped three match point opportunities before finally winning the fourth.
“Jose has had to learn quickly,” Guichard said. “He lost the first set fairly easily, and then the match went indoors which is tough for him. But he made the adjustment and got the point to win it.”
State moved to the quarterfinals to face No. 7 Georgia. After narrowly escaping with the doubles point, Georgia gained momentum in singles and rode that momentum to a 4-1 victory, eliminating MSU from the tournament. Georgia, the third seed in the tournament, went on to defeat fifth-ranked and top-seeded Mississippi for the SEC Championship.
The win over the Volunteers will likely give State a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament. Unlike basketball, the NCAA Tennis Tournament divides the teams into sixteen regions comprised of four teams. A two seed will mean the Bulldogs will play a three seed rather than having to play a two or possibly one seed in the opening round.
“That’s a huge advantage for us,” Guichard said. “We will have an easier match at least in terms of rankings. Of course, you never know if we’ll match-up better or not.”
The NCAA Regionals begin May 14. The time and location of State’s first round match is yet to be determined.