Mississippi State
Tennessee
State Women's Tennis Falls To Tennessee, 5-2
March 02, 2008 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? Mississippi State's women's tennis team fell to #23 Tennessee 5-2 on Sunday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. The Lady Bulldogs dropped to 5-3 overall with the loss and 0-2 in league play. Tennessee improved to 8-2, 2-0.
MSU started the match well, grabbing the doubles point in dramatic fashion. On court No. 3, the State duo of Daniela Juskova and Valeriya Makarycheva fell to the Tennessee duo of Connor Vogel and Jennifer Meredith 8-3. Then, on court No. 2, MSU's Radka Ferancova and Renee Joseph defeated Ghizela Schutte and Rosalia Alda 8-6. On the decisive court No. 1, Mississippi State would pull out a 8-6 victory and grab the doubles point when Martina Banikova and Elna de Villiers upset the nation's second-ranked doubles team of Caitlin Whorskey and Zsofia Zubor.
In singles play, Tennessee took a 3-1 match lead with three straight-set victories in the first three matches completed. On court No. 4, Vogel defeated Juskova 6-3, 6-3 and Alda posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Makarycheva at the No. 6 position. On court No. 2, Joseph fell to #90 Zubor 6-1, 6-4. State would then trim the lead to 3-2 with de Villiers defeating Vogel 6-0, 7-5 at the No. 5 spot.
UT then secured the final two matches on court, both close decisions, to claim the team victory. The match-clincher would come at the No. 3 position where Ferancova was outlasted by Samantha Orlin in three sets 0-6, 6-4, 6-2. In the last singles match, UT's Schutte claimed victory over Banikova 6-3, 7-5 at No. 1 to give the Volunteers the 5-2 team victory.
"We played them very tough," said head coach Tracy Lane. "They found our weakness and exploited them. The positive thing is that we really felt like we could win this match. That attitude is the key to success in this league."
Mississippi State will see its first road action of 2008 next weekend when they travel to Alabama on Friday, March 7, to play at 3 p.m. CT. They continue on to Auburn to face the Tigers on Sunday, March 9 at 1 p.m.
#23 Tennessee 5, Mississippi State 2
March 2, 2008 ? Starkville, Miss.
DOUBLES ? Martina Banikova/Elna de Villiers (MSU) def. #2 Caitlin Whoriskey/Zsofia Zubor (UT) 8-5; Radka Ferancova/Renee Joseph (MSU) def. Ghizela Schutte/Rosalia Alda (UT) 8-6; Connor Vogel/Jennifer Meredith (UT) def. Daniela Juskova/ Valeriya Makarycheva (UT) 8-3.
SINGLES ?Schutte (UT) def. Banikova (MSU) 6-3, 7-5; #90 Zubor (UT) def Joseph (MSU) 6-1, 6-4; Samantha Orlin (UT) def. Ferancova (MSU) 0-6, 6-4, 6-2; Meredith (UT) def. Juskova (MSU) 6-3, 6-3; de Villiers (MSU) def. Vogel (UT) 6-0, 7-5; Alda (UT) def. Makarycheva (MSU) 6-3, 6-4.
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)
