MState Men's Tennis Falls To Oklahoma In Second Match At Blue-Gray

Friday, March 20

Montgomery, Ala.

3:00 PM

Mississippi State

Oklahoma

No. 12 MSU Tennis Downs No. 19 Vols To Conclude Road Weekend

MState Men's Tennis Falls To Oklahoma In Second Match At Blue-Gray

March 20, 2009 | Men's Tennis

By: hailstate.com

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ? The 48th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (5-7) was up 2-1 in their second match of the Blue-Gray Classic Friday, but ultimately dropped a 4-2 decision to the 41st-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (8-5).

MSU dropped the opening doubles point to the Sooners with State's rookie tandem of Artem Ilyushin and Louis Cant falling first to the Sooner duo of Andrei Daescu and David Pultr, 8-2, at the No. 2 position. That was followed with the Bulldog doubles team of junior Chris Doerr and sophomore Tanner Stump slipping in a tight 8-6 match at No. 1 to Sooners Ionut Beleleu and Sergey Avdeyev. State led 7-4 at No. 3 when play was suspended after OU clinched the point.

MState evened things up in the match at 1-1 with a win at the No. 2 spot where Ilyushin took down OU's Pultr in a two-set bout, 6-2, 6-4. MSU then took a 2-1 lead when the Bulldogs' Cant won in commanding fashion over the Sooner Adveyev, 6-2, 6-1, at the No. 4 spot.

Oklahoma would rebound and take the next three matches to claim the team win. OU's 94th-ranked Daescu led the Oklahoma charge, downing State senior Ryan Farlow, ranked 108th, 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 1 slot. At No. 5, MSU's Doerr fell 6-1, 7-6(5) to George Chanturia of Oklahoma, followed by Bulldog sophomore Antonio Lastre falling in close identical sets to the Sooners' Beleleu, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 to decide the contest.

“It is great experience for us to play three matches in three days,” said Mississippi State head coach Per Nilsson, “but we are not doing enough to win at some spots. Tomorrow will be another tough challenge for us, so we need to respond positively after a couple of close losses the first two days.”

MSU will face Virginia Commonwealth tomorrow at 4 p.m. CST.

Live stats will be available at www.mstateathletics.com.

#41 OKLAHOMA 4, #48 MISSISSIPPI STATE 2
Montgomery, Ala. ? 3/20/09

DOUBLES ? Ionut Beleleu/Sergey Adyvev (OU) def. Chris Doerr/Tanner Stump (MSU) 8-6; Andrei Daescu/David Pultr (OU) def. Louis Cant/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) 8-2; Ryan Farlow/Antonio Lastre (MSU) vs. George Chanturia/Blake Boswell (OU) 7-4, susp.

SINGLES - #94 Daescu (OU) def. #108 Farlow (MSU) 6-2, 6-3; Ilyushin (MSU) def. Pultr (OU) 6-2, 6-4; Beleleu (OU) def. Lastre (MSU) 6-4, 6-4; Cant (MSU) def. Adveyev (OU) 6-2, 6-1; Chanturia (OU) def. Doerr (MSU) 6-1, 7-6(5); Stump (MSU) vs. Boswell (OU) 2-6, 5-2, susp.

Order of Finish: Doubles ? 2, 1; Singles ? 2, 4, 1, 5, 3