The motivation for the Mississippi State men’s tennis team this weekend is clear.
The 9th-ranked Bulldogs have reversed the decade-long dominance of Ole Miss in the Magnolia State rivalry by defeating the Rebels in their last two encounters. State has already clinched a share of the SEC West, but if the Bulldogs lose on Saturday, they will be sharing it with No. 14 Ole Miss instead of having it all to themselves.
“We don’t want to share it with anyone, especially with that other team,” head coach Per Nilsson said. “We want to win it outright.”
MSU has additional motivation for Saturday’s match in Oxford in the form of the potential of hosting in the first rounds of the NCAA Championships. Nilsson believes his team should qualify to host at A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre (where the Bulldogs have only lost once this season) if the Bulldogs beat Ole Miss. If State loses, Nilsson said the team will likely need a quality win or two in next weekend’s SEC Tournament for Starkville to become a host site.
Saturday’s match will likely feature a premier matchup with MSU’s 12th-ranked Artem Ilyushin taking on Ole Miss’ 14th-ranked Nik Scholtz in singles play on court one. Scholtz defeated MSU’s James Chaudry in the River Hills Cup earlier this season. Ilyushin defeated German Marcel Thiemann, now ranked No. 27, that day. With both of the last two matches being close wins for MSU, Ilyushin said despite the talent on both sides, it will be the intangibles that determine the winner Saturday.
“Ole Miss is really talented, but lately why we’ve beatten them has nothing to do with talent,” Ilyushin said. “It’s because we’ve out-worked and out-fought them. If we try to show up on Saturday and bring our fighting mode back to the game, I think we’ll have a good shot at beating them.”
The Bulldogs head into Saturday’s matchup coming off a 6-1 defeat at the hands of No. 7 Kentucky and a narrow 4-3 win over No. 43 Vanderbilt. The loss was the second conference loss of the season for MSU, the first coming against No. 4 Georgia in Athens.
Comparatively, Ole Miss is also coming off a win over Vanderbilt and a loss to Kentucky. When comparing how State and Ole Miss have fared in SEC competition, the results have been the same except for MSU’s win over No. 10 Florida, to whom Ole Miss lost.
With the two teams looking close to even on paper, Ole Miss head coach Billy Chadwick said he believes the crowd could play a major factor in determining the outcome of the match.
“It’s going to come down to one or two hits of the ball,” he said. “We’re in hopes that playing here at home with the crowd will be enough to sway it our way.”
The Bulldogs will face a familiar opponent in the Thiemann twins, 27th-ranked Marcel and his brother Chris. The duo is also ranked No. 16 in the latest ITA doubles rankings. MSU senior George Coupland believes he is up to the challenge if he draws one of the two in singles play.
“Marcel is pretty tough for me; he likes playing me,” Coupland said. “Chris, however, I’ve beaten every time. They’re both just as good as each other. As soon as I don’t approach the match in a normal way is the day I lose.”
For a senior who has helped restore State’s men’s tennis program to the top 10 and already take home one SEC West crown, Saturday’s match presents an opportunity to cross off one final accomplishment in his last regular season match.
“To beat them at their place is something I haven’t done yet,” Coupland said. “We will be really pumped up for that match.”