Neither heavy rains nor gusty wins could keep the men’s tennis team from caging Tigers and turning a Tide.
The 43rd-ranked Mississippi State men’s tennis team began its Southeastern Conference season in strong fashion. The Bulldogs upset the 35th-ranked Auburn Tigers 4-2 on Friday and outlasted No. 24 Alabama 4-3 on Sunday.
On Friday, State faced Auburn indoors at MSU’s McCarthy Gymnasium due to rain. After an easy 8-0 victory for State at the No. 2 doubles position, Auburn rallied to take the next two matches and the doubles point.
The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a 6-2, 6-3 victory by Auburn’s 60th-ranked Gabor Zoltan Pelva over Juan Carlos-Pinto at the No. 2 singles position. State would grab its first point behind the play of senior all-American and 7th-ranked Romain Ambert, who defeated Alex Schweizer 6-3, 7-5 at the No. 1 spot.
State then won at the No. 3 and 4 positions, including junior Luiz Carvalho’s 6-3, 6-3 win over Rodrigo Minozzo, Carvalho’s fourth in a row. Bulldog sophomore Florent Girod’s third consecutive match-clinching victory gave State the upset.
“Today was huge,” MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. “Auburn should be a Top 20 or Top 25 team. At the end of the year, that team is going to be very good.”
State welcomed the Crimson Tide to Starkville on Sunday. The match was played at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre under harsh wind conditions.
State took the opening doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and 2 positions, including an 8-4 victory by MSU’s 50th-ranked team of Carvalho and Pinto.
State then needed victories in three of the six singles matches for the win, and none came easily. State jumped out to a 2-0 lead with Girod’s fifth straight victory, coming from behind to defeat Alabama’s Michael Green 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 5 spot. The Tide evened the match count at 2-2 by taking the No. 2 and No. 6 positions.
The last three matches lasted three sets, with each team needing two wins for the team victory. After falling behind 2-0 in a third-set tiebreaker, Bulldog senior Max Fomine rallied to take a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3) decision to give State a 3-2 edge.
State’s Carvalho, playing undefeated Joseph Jung at No. 3, dropped the first set and fell behind 6-5 in the second set. Facing match point with Jung serving, Carvalho rallied to force a tiebreaker that he won handily. Carvalho carried the momentum into the third set and clinched the match for State with a 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 victory.
Minutes later, Alabama’s Stephen Mitchell upset State’s Ambert 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) after facing three match points.
“We fought hard today,” Guichard said. “The wind made it hard to play pretty tennis today, so we had to play more with our heart and our fight. This is a good team. Our fight, our heart and will are what are going to make the difference.”
State will next travel to Montgomery, Ala., Thursday-Sunday to compete in the Big 10 Tires Blue-Gray National Collegiate Classic for the first time since 1995.