The Mississippi State women’s tennis team hosted the third annual John Cade Invitational Oct. 27-29 in Starkville. The team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament, and the semifinals of the singles tournament.
Five schools were represented in the tournament this year as the University of Louisville, Louisiana Tech University, the University of Mississippi and the University of North Texas all brought players to Starkville.
Graduate student Alexandra Mikhailuk and freshman Athina Pitta partnered together for a second consecutive time. The duo had a first-round bye and fell short in the quarterfinals in an 8-4 loss.
Jayna Clemens, Ava Rath, Chloe Cirotte, Maria Rizzolo, Dharani Niroshan and Alessia Tagliente all competed in the doubles tournament as well, but were all eliminated in the round of 16.
In addition to competing in women’s doubles, MSU also had three girls play in the singles tournament. Sophomore Dharani Niroshan went the farthest, defeating Tiffani Nash of Louisiana Tech in the round of 16 with 7-5, 3-6 and 7-6 victories, followed by 6-3 and 6-1 victories in the quarterfinals. She fell short in a 6-2 and 6-1 loss in the semifinals on Saturday to advance to the championship match.
Despite not having the outcome the team had hoped for, head coach Chris Hooshyar was still positive from their performance, especially in the singles bracket. Hooshyar addressed the mindset that comes with playing at Mississippi State.
“A lot of the singles matches that we lost were three-setters and we’ve talked about always staying in the fight.” Hooshyar said. “We can’t control the outcome, but we can control the manner in which we compete, and I thought our attitudes and physicality were on display. The improvements are being shown. They’ve made huge strides.”
The John Cade Invitational will hopefully be an experience the team can learn from and use going forward in the season.
Mississippi State’s tennis duo of Mikhailuk and Pitta have qualified for the International Tennis Association National Fall Championships on November 1 through November 5 and will compete in the doubles tournament in San Diego, California.
Head coach Hooshyar expressed the importance of a team with a positive attitude.
“Attitude comes first. The quote that we go by is ‘performance doesn’t affect the attitude, attitude affects the performance’. That’s what the identity of this team is going to be. For the future players out there, if they want to join a program where they can make a name for themselves and want to be challenged, then this is the place to be.”
The Bulldogs will be at the Oklahoma University Tennis Club from October 30 to November 5 to compete in the W15 Norman tennis tournament.