Mississippi State
Louisiana-Lafayette
Bulldogs Roll To 6-1 Win Over Louisiana-Lafayette
February 13, 2008 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Mississippi State men's tennis team eased to a 6-1 win over Louisiana-Lafayette Wednesday afternoon at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre on the MSU campus. State won the opening doubles point and the first four singles matches to quickly clinch the win.
The Bulldogs (2-2), began the afternoon with doubles wins on courts #1 and #2. The first completed match came on court 2 where the MSU duo of Pjotrs Necajevs and Tanner Stump topped ULL's team of Jorge Delgado and Piotre Olechowski 8-1. The second completed match came on court #3 as ULL's tandem of Arlen Domoney and Stefan Hawkins won 8-4 over State's Frayssinoux and Genuini to send the decision to court #1. On court 1, Bulldogs Ivan Bjelica and Ryan Farlow outlasted Cajuns Janusz Conradi and Ryan Hess, clinching the doubles point with an 8-5 win.
The MSU netmen wasted no time in expanding their lead quickly. The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead when freshman Antonio Lastre defeated ULL's Delgado 6-1, 6-4 on court #4. In a matter of seconds, Bjelica closed out a 6-1, 6-1 win over Lafayette's Conradi on court #1, followed by Farlow breezing to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Domoney on court #2 to clinch the match and give MSU a 4-0 lead. The lead expanded to 5-0 when State's Stump won a 6-3, 6-4 decision over Murilo Martins on court #6. On court #3, MSU's Necajevs and ULL's Olechowski split the first two sets and decided the third set in a supertiebreaker. After dropping the first set 6-0, Necajevs rallied to win the second 6-3. However in the supertiebreaker, Necajevs fell 10-8, as ULL claimed their only point of the match. The last match completed came on court #5 as State's Genuini notched State's sixth point with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Hawkins of Lafayette.
"I was pleased with the way we came out and took care of business today," said MSU head coach Per Nilsson. "It was cold and windy but we stayed focused and played pretty well. Hopefully this will give us some momentum as we continue with our non-conference schedule with a good South Alabama team on Sunday."
Bjelica improved to 7-1 on the season with his win on court #1 Wednesday. The Belgrade, Serbia native is now 3-0 this spring in dual matches. Farlow improved to 13-8 with his win in his first career singles match on court #2. Stump's win on court #6 was his first dual-match victory of his career. State improved to 18-10 all time against ULL including a 16-2 mark in matches played in Starkville.
State will continue its homestand Sunday as it plays host to 46th-ranked South Alabama. Match time is set for 1 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
#53 Mississippi State 6, Louisiana-Lafayette 1
STARKVILLE, Miss.-2/13/08
Doubles-Bjelica/Farlow (MSU) def. Conradi/Hess (ULL) 8-5; Necajevs/Stump (MSU) def. Delgado/Olechowski (ULL) 8-1; Domoney/Hawkins (ULL) def. Frayssinoux/Genuini (MSU) 8-4
Singles-Ivan Bjelica (MSU) def. Janusz Conradi (ULL) 6-1, 6-1; Ryan Farlow (MSU) def. Arlen Domoney (ULL) 6-0, 6-0; Piotre Olechowski (ULL) def. Pjotrs Necajevs (MSU) 6-0, 3-6, 1-0(8); Antonio Lastre (MSU) def. Jorge Delgado (ULL) 6-1, 6-4; Maximilien Genuini (MSU) def. Stefan Hawkins (ULL) 7-5, 6-4; Tanner Stump (MSU) def. Murilo Martins (ULL) 6-3, 6-4.
