Mississippi State’s men’s tennis team continued its fall campaign last weekend at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Ga.
One of the oldest tournaments in existence, the SIC, celebrated its 37th birthday with feature players from 29 schools throughout the southeastern United States.
In Division I singles, Luiz Carvalho, Florent Girod and Jose-Carlos Pinto competed for the Bulldogs. Carvalho and Pinto, MSU’s nationally ranked duo, also competed in doubles. Netmen Josh Irey and Jordan Jones, both new to the MSU rotation, competed both in singles and in Division II doubles.
Just coming off a past event, many of the players seemed optimistic about last weekend’s tournament.
“It has really helped that we have gotten some matches behind us, and gotten a better view of how we’re doing. We are battling well each week, and hopefully we will do better in the upcoming tournaments,” Carvalho said.
Carvalho lost a hard-fought match against Florida’s 44th ranked Vlad Obradovic 6-3, 6-4. Carvalho later claimed a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Middle Tennessee State’s Mario Born.
Pinto lost his opening match in a three-set heartbreaker to Georgia State’s Jamie Rodriguez 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. In consolation play, he routed Mercer’s Mario Gil 6-1, 6-1.
Girod lost his first round match with Duke’s Jonathan Stokke 6-3, 7-5, but responded with a win against Furman’s Allen Simmons 6-2, 6-3.
State’s dynamic duo, Carvalho and Pinto, posted an 8-3 victory over South Alabama’s Clinton Jacobs and Juraj Sekera, as well as a 9-7 victory over Florida’s Ryan Sherry and Vlad Obradovic.
Jones advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating College of Charleston’s Alex Quillis in a three-set stunner 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Highly regarded freshman Josh Irey would not be as fortunate as his teammate and doubles partner. Irey lost a three-set match to Auburn-Montgomery’s Grzegorz Klukowski 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The performance of the newcomers was even enough to impress the veterans on the team. “Jordan and Josh are getting better each time they compete. They are becoming less nervous. They are battling very well,” Carvalho said.
Mercer’s Ricardo Echeverri and Mario Gil eliminated this tandem of MSU newcomers from doubles competition by a score of 9-7. SEC opponents eliminated state’s Carvalho and Girod from singles competition. Carvalho lost to Ole Miss’s Bram Ten Berge 6-3, 7-5, while Girod was the victim of Vanderbilt’s Jason Pinsky 6-3, 6-4.
“We had some more positives emerge today,” said head coach Sylvain Guichard. “Luiz and Jose played as they should in doubles, and Jordan and Josh both played good singles matches. We are getting better as each day goes by and we get more matches under our belts.”
On Sunday, Jones, fell victim to Mercer’s Arya Vafaei 6-1, 6-4. Carvalho and Pinto concluded doubles play by losing in the quarterfinals to Tennessee’s Ockie Oosthuizen and Ben Rogers 8-6. Pinto would also go on to be eliminated in singles play against Nick Lane of Auburn, 6-4, 7-6(3).