Mississippi State
UAB
Bulldogs Top Blazers 4-1 In Season Opener
February 03, 2008 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Mississippi State men's tennis team opened its 2008 dual-match campaign Sunday, defeating UAB 4-1 at the McCarthy Gymnasium on the MSU campus. Only singles play was contested due to heavy rain which forced the match indoors.
The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard first when 14th-ranked senior Philippe Frayssinoux ousted UAB's Tyrone Ewels 6-1, 6-2 on court #2. Moments later, State senior Ivan Bjelica closed out Blazer Slawomir Szeremeta 6-1, 6-3 at the #1 position to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. State jumped to a commanding 3-0 lead when junior Ryan Farlow topped UAB's Johannes Spangenberg 6-1, 6-4 at the #3 position. UAB narrowed the gap to 3-1 when Blazer Dan Cornei downed State sophomore Artem Kuznetsov 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 at the #4 position. The decision would then come down to court #5 featuring State's Antonio Lastre and UAB's Brian Ly and court #6 between State's Maximilien Genuini and the Blazer's Alex Emery. The first completed match came on court #6 when Genuini overwhelmed UAB's Emery 6-1, 6-4 to clinch the win for MSU. The remaining match was suspended with Ly leading Lastre 6-4, 4-6, 4-2.
"I was proud of the way our guys responded today," said MSU head coach Per Nilsson. "It was a little tough to have to play around the weather but our guys came out tough. Obviously there are things we have to get better at, but this was a good way to open the season."
Sunday's win marked the fourth-straight season-opening win for State as they moved to 15-3 in their last 18 openers. The Bulldogs improved to 23-1 all-time against UAB with the win Sunday and moved to 22-1 against the Blazers in matches played in
MSU's next action comes Thursday, Feb. 7 when they travel to
#54 MSU 4, UAB 1
SINGLES-Ivan Bjelica (MSU) def. Slawomir Szeremeta (UAB) 6-1, 6-3; #14 Philippe Frayssinoux (MSU) def. Tyrone Ewels (UAB) 6-1, 6-2; Ryan Farlow (MSU) def. Johannes Spangenberg 6-1, 6-4; Dan Cornei (UAB) def. Artem Kuznetsov (MSU) 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4; Maximilien Genuini (MSU) def. Alex Emery (UAB) 6-1, 6-4; Antonio Lastre (MSU) vs. Brian Ly (UAB) UAB led 6-4, 4-6, 4-2, susp.
