Mississippi State’s 30th-ranked men’s tennis team fell in a tight 4-3 decision to No. 46 South Alabama Wednesday afternoon on the MSU campus.
The loss, which was the Bulldogs’ third straight, dropped State to 3-4 overall. USA improved to 6-2. The defeat also marked only the fifth for MSU against a non-SEC opponent in Starkville in 61 such matches. The Jaguars have now produced the last two of those five setbacks.
USA claimed the opening point of the day with victories at the No. 1 and 3 doubles positions. Bulldogs Romain Ambert and Max Fomine teamed to salvage a 9-8(3) win at the No. 2 spot over Jaguars Pavel Mazaev and Jorgen Vestli.
In singles, South Alabama would claim the first set at the bottom three positions and ride those leads to the victory.
The Jaguars went up 2-0 in the match when Evan Fowler completed a convincing 6-1, 6-0 win over Bulldog freshman Luc Maasdorp at the No. 6 spot.
State would claim straight-set triumphs in the next two matches to even the score at 2-2. The junior all-American Ambert downed USA’s Clinton Jacobs 6-4, 6-0 at the No. 1 spot, while Fomine was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Pazaev at No. 3. Fomine improved to 5-2 in singles dual matches this season with his victory.
But South Alabama finished off the next two matches to get the team win. USA regained the advantage at 3-2 with a 6-3, 6-4 win from David Nylen over Bulldog Florent Girod at the No. 4 position. Vestli then registered the clinching point at No. 5, besting State’s Matt Armstrong 6-3, 6-2.
Bulldog senior Jerome Le Belicard claimed a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory in the final match of the day for MSU’s third point.
State was without the services of Rene-Charles Combette (ranked 76th) and Luiz Carvalho in the match. The senior Combette has been suffering from a thigh injury and the junior Carvalho has yet to play this season, still recovering from off-season shoulder surgery.
“Yes, we had two of our top three players out,” MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said, “but that was not the reason we lost today. We played a quality opponent in South Alabama, but one that we could have beaten with the lineup we had today. Our guys simply did not step up in doubles or in the bottom of the singles lineup like they should and that was the difference in the match.”
The Bulldogs return to action Sunday, continuing their four-match homestand against 59th-ranked Middle Tennessee at 1 p.m. State will then open Southeastern Conference action the following weekend with home affairs versus No. 16 South Carolina (Feb. 28) and No. 6 Florida (March 2).