MSU Tennis Concludes Play At Blue-Gray With Tough 4-3 Setback To VCU

Saturday, March 21

Montgomery, Ala.

4:00 PM

Mississippi State

VCU

MSU Tennis Concludes Play At Blue-Gray With Tough 4-3 Setback To VCU

March 21, 2009 | Men's Tennis

By: hailstate.com

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ? The No. 48 Mississippi State men's tennis team (5-8), concluded play at the Blue Gray Classic Saturday with a tough 4-3 loss to 54th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth (11-6).

MSU opened the match with a 1-0 lead by claiming the doubles point. State's Chris Doerr and Tanner Stump led the way by upsetting No. 40 Benjamin Bouhana and Emil Lindgren of VCU, 8-6, at the No. 1 position. VCU would respond at the No. 3 spot when the Rams' Martin Schullhauser and Nicolas Vinel took down MSU's duo of Ryan Farlow and Antonio Lastre, 8-6. But MState's rookie tandem of Louis Cant and Artem Ilyushin would come through for the Bulldogs with their tiebreaker victory over Tibaut Charron and Bobo Delemark of VCU, 9-8(3) at No. 2.

VCU would surge back by claiming the opening two points in singles, first at the No. 6 position where Filip Svensson took down MSU's Stump 6-1, 6-4. VCU followed with Charron winning 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 over MSU's 108th-ranked Farlow.

MSU would rebound soundly at the No. 2 and 5 positions, when State's Ilyushin won in identical sets over the Rams Schullhauser, 6-4, 6-4. Then the Bulldogs' Doerr ousted Delemark of VCU 6-3, 6-2 for 3-2 State lead.

But the Rams would claim the final two points of the evening to claim the match with MSU's Cant slipping up at the No. 4 position to Lindgren of VCU, 6-4, 6-4. The match then came down to the No. 3 position where the Bulldog sophomore Lastre dropped a hard-fought three-set affair to the Rams' Vinel, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Since starting the season 5-4, MSU has felt the woes of a crucial injury in their lineup as true freshman Daniel Sanchez suffered a knee injury last weekend that has prevented him from playing the last four matches, all of which have resulted in close losses. Sanchez had been playing #2 singles and doubles.

“Playing without one of our best players this week made things difficult for us and we had to make some unanticipated adjustments,” said Missisissippi State head coach Per Nilsson. “We are not happy with the outcome of the matches, but I am proud of how we still pushed three top 50 teams to the last couple of games each day...we could have won all three of these matches just as easily as we lost them. Our guys are fighting hard and putting us in a position to win and that's all we can ask. Now we will prepare to restart SEC play next weekend.”

MSU will resume action this Friday, March 27, when the Bulldogs travel to Columbia, S.C., to take on the Gamecocks of South Carolina. State will follow that up with a Sunday, March 29, home match against the seventh-ranked Florida Gators at 1 p.m. CT.

#54 VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH 4, #48 MISSISSIPPI STATE 3
Montgomery, Ala. ? 3/21/09

DOUBLES ? Chris Doerr/Tanner Stump (MSU) def. #40 Benjamin Bouhana/Emil Lindgren (VCU) 8-6; Louis Cant/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def. Thibaut Charron/Bobo Delemark (VCU) 9-8(3); Martin Schullhauser/Nicolas Vinel (VCU) def. Ryan Farlow/Antonio Lastre (MSU) 8-6.

SINGLES ? Charron (VCU) def. Farlow (MSU) 6-3, 6-4; Ilyushin (MSU) def. Schullhauser (VCU) 6-4, 6-4; Vinel (VCU) def. Lastre (MSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Lindgren (VCU) def. Cant (MSU) 6-4, 6-4; Doerr (MSU) def. Delemark (VCU) 6-3, 6-2; Filip Svensson (VCU) def. Stump (MSU) 6-1, 6-4.

Order of Finish: Doubles ? 1, 3, 2; Singles ? 6, 1, 2, 5, 4, 3