The Mississippi State women’s tennis team rebounded from back-to-back 4-3 losses by defeating Troy State Friday and UAB Sunday.
Against Troy State, the Lady Bulldogs took an early lead, sweeping the doubles point at all three positions. Playing at the No. 1 position, State’s Magdi Rekasi and Anastasia Kugakolova defeated Carolina Aravena and Luisa Lopez 9-8(3).
At No. 2, Lady Bulldogs Marcelle Hirt and Justyna Switala defeated TSU’s Christina Mancheno and Tsitsi Masviba 8-5. At the third position, MSU’s Haley and Tarryn Rudman won their first doubles match of the season, defeating Laura Alarcon and Suzanne Jones 8-3.
TSU’s Luisa Lopez defeated Hirt 6-1, 6-1 for the No. 1 singles point. However, State would recover to win the No. 2 and 3 positions in straight sets. After dropping the No. 4 and 5 singles matches, MSU’s Tarryn Rudman, playing the No. 4 position, came from behind to win her match in three sets, giving State the victory.
“Tarryn really won the match for us,” MSU head coach Tracy Lane said. “You hate to put it on one player, but if she would’ve lost the three setter, the match would’ve gone Troy State’s way. She’s really stepping up as a freshman.” After an emotional victory on Friday, the Lady Bulldogs cruised to a 4-0 sweep over UAB, winning every match in straight sets.
Playing indoors at MSU’s McCarthy Gymnasium, State needed just four singles matches to secure the victory.
At No. 2, Kugakolova won the first point for State, defeating Annemieke Elsholz 6-3, 6-2.
At. No. 1, MSU Hirt defeated Femke de Boer 6-3, 6-1. Undefeated freshman Tarryn Rudman won State’s next point with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Julia von Sampson. Junior Magdi clinched the match for MSU, defeating Marrit Jansma 6-4, 6-0.
“We needed a short day today,” Lane said. “We’ve had a lot of 4-3 matches, and we’ve played four matches indoors and indoors just takes so long. One through four took care of business and that’s the way we wanted it. We played very solid.”