After an icy storm swept through Starkville, the Mississippi State University men’s tennis team dominated through a sweep of their own with a doubleheader victory over Florida State and Tennessee State Friday at home in the Rula Tennis Pavilion.
MSU students and supporters piled in the stands of the indoor facility to avoid the frigid weather and cheer on their beloved Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs started off strong against first opponent Florida State by securing back-to-back doubles points against the Seminoles. Senior Carles Hernandez and junior Dusan Milanovic defeated the No. 52 team of Loris Pourroy and Youcef Rihane 6-3 and set the tone for sophomores Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez to clinch a 6-4 win against FSU’s tandem Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc and Joshua Dous-Karpenschif.
After building momentum in the doubles match, it was time for the Bulldogs to move on to singles. The Bulldogs’ one and only loss came after Jovanovic fell to FSU’s Cornut-Chauvinc, but Bulldog Sanchez Martinez got the ball back rolling with a 6-4, 6-4 win shortly after. Mississippi State’s determination to walk away with a win did not waver as the rest of the Bulldogs followed suit and racked up wins for the remainder of the match.
MSU concluded the singles match with a 5-1 victory over the Seminoles, and Bulldog head coach Matt Roberts acknowledged his team’s resilience and ability to overcome Florida State’s talented roster.
“They were really tough today against Florida State,” Roberts said. “We dropped one match against Florida State and have made it really hard on our opponents to get momentum and get sets. That makes me very happy to see the guys be able to stay mentally calm, have good discipline, not show any negative body language and deal with the ups and downs very maturely.”
Although MSU clinched its first match of the day, Tennessee State was still awaiting its turn to take on the Bulldogs.
Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez maintained their momentum and secured the first win of the match, while Hernandez and Milanovic stepped in to clinch the doubles point with 6-3 victory over Tennessee State’s Diego Britt-Alvarez and Nil Moinet.
The Bulldogs remained unphased during singles as freshman Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes started off strong with a victory in the first set. Freshman Marshall Landry kept the trend going with a 6-1, 6-2 win, and the rest of the Bulldogs followed suit.
Mississippi State prevailed with its third shutout of the season, sending the Tennessee State Tigers back to Nashville with their heads hung low.
Although the season is young, head coach Matt Roberts believes that his team will keep on improving and hopes this is just the beginning of something even greater for Mississippi State men’s tennis team.
“It’s a process and a journey,” Roberts said. “We’re just going to keep getting better with every match and every practice we can and live in the moment.”
The Bulldogs will work to improve their perfect 4-0 record as they host VCU, Florida State and Arizona State Saturday and Sunday at the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
