
Bulldog Men's Tennis Snaps Skid With Exciting 4-3 Comeback Win At Arkansas
April 10, 2009 | Men's Tennis
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ? The 69th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team came back from a 3-1 deficit to claim a 4-3 upset win at No. 42 Arkansas Friday, as true freshman Artem Ilyushin completed a nailbiting three-set win over UA's Chris Nott at the No.2 singles position to clinch the win.
MSU improved to 6-12 on the season and 2-7 in Southeastern Conference play, while
Then State started its comeback run. The sophomore Stump started the MSU rally at the No. 6 position, with his straight-set win over Arkansas' Tyler Tarnasky, 6-1, 7-6(6). Evening the score up for the Maroon and White at the No. 4 position was Lastre, who bested Lebedev, 7-5, 6-3.
That set up the clinching win by the 89th-ranked rookie Ilyushin, who split the opening two-sets, 6-3, 3-6, with Nott at the No. 2 spot. The players then traded blows in the third, finally going to a tiebreaker to decide the match. In the breaker, Ilyushin mounted a 6-1 lead, only to see Nott crawl back to 6-5. With Nott serving on that point, Ilyushin claimed the decisive point to hand the Bulldogs the win.
“It was a hard-fought win, especially coming back after losing the doubles point,” said
MSU returns to the courts this Sunday, April 12, at 1 p.m. CT, when MSU serves up at 32nd-ranked LSU.
Live stats will be available at www.msstateathletics.com.
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DOUBLES ? Chris Nott/Blake Strode (UA) def. Chris Doerr/Tanner Stump (MSU) 8-3; Matt Hogan/Dimitry Lebedev (UA) def. Louis Cant/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) 8-3; Ryan Farlow/Antonio Lastre (MSU) vs. Taylor King/Matt Walters (UA) 4-5, susp.
SINGLES - #13 Strode (UA) def. #88 Farlow (MSU) 6-1, 6-1; #89 Ilyushin (MSU) def. Nott (UA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5); Hogan (UA) def. Cant (MSU) 6-2, 6-3; Lastre (MSU) def. Lebedev (UA) 7-5, 6-3; Doerr (MSU) def. Bradwin Williams (UA) 6-1, 6-3; Stump (MSU) def. Tyler Tarnasky (UA) 6-1, 7-6(6).
Order of Finish: Doubles ? 1, 2; Singles ? 3, 5, 1, 6, 4, 2.