Mississippi State
Kentucky
MSU Tennis Drops Tough 4-3 Match At #8 UK; Cant Registers Top 10 Win
March 05, 2010 | Men's Tennis
The 40th-ranked Bulldogs took an early 1-0 lead to begin the match claiming the doubles point in come-from-behind fashion over the Wildcats. UK had the early momentum in doubles, winning easily at the No. 2 spot with MSU duo Antonio Lastre and Daniel Sanchez slipping up, 8-2, to UK's Alberto Gonzalez and Alex Lambropoulos. State would rebound, first at the No. 1 position, where Bulldog tandem George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin upset the 15th-nationally ranked doubles team Brad Cox and Eric Quigley of Kentucky, 9-7. MState would claim the point and take the 1-0 lead from the No. 3 slot, where MSU's Cant and Chris Doerr won in a tiebreaker over Wildcats Alex Musialek and Anthony Rossi, 9-8(9).
Kentucky would take control shortly following doubles, winning at the No. 3 and No. 4 spots to take a 2-1 lead. At No. 3, 101st-ranked Coupland of MSU dropped a straight-set decision to Kentucky's Cox, 6-3, 6-4. UK would take its first lead of the match at No. 4, when State's Lastre fell 6-4, 6-2, to Rossi of Kentucky, snapping a four-match win streak for Lastre.
MSU's Cant, who stands at No. 100 in the country, improved his perfect record to 9-0, by taking down the Wildcats 8th-ranked Quigley in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, at the No. 1 position, tying the match at two-a-piece.
Kentucky would take the lead for the final time at the No. 5 slot, where sophomore Max Gregor Smith of the Bulldogs fell to UK's Gonzalez, 6-0, 6-1. The Wildcats claimed the match at the No. 2 spot, where MState's Ilyushin dropped a heartbreaking three-set match to No. 37 Muisalek of Kentucky, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3, which snapped a three-match win streak for the sophomore.
State's Sanchez would give the Bulldogs their third and final point of the match at the No. 6 position, taking down the Wildcats' Graeme Dyce in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. With the win Sanchez claimed his sixth-straight match and improved to 6-1 in dual match play.
"We competed hard and played much better doubles than we have which is a good sign," said third-year head coach Per Nilsson. "It takes something special to beat top 10 teams and we're getting closer and closer."
The Bulldogs fell to 6-4 and 0-1 in league play and will look to rebound on Sunday against No. 30 Vanderbilt (8-4, 0-1) who are coming off a conference-opening loss to No. 15 Ole Miss. State will serve up against the Commodores at 1 p.m. CT, in Nashville, Tenn. Live stats are available at www.mstateathletics.com.
#8 KENTUCKY 4, #40 MISSISSIPPI STATE 3
Lexington, Ky. - 3/05/10
DOUBLES
No. 1 - George Coupland/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def. #15 Brad Cox/Eric Quigley (UK) 9-7; No. 2 - Alberto Gonzalez/Alex Lambropoulos (UK) def. Antonio Lastre/Daniel Sanchez (MSU) 8-2; No. 3 - Louis Cant/Chris Doerr (MSU) def. Alex Musialek/Anthony Rossi (UK) 9-8(9) (Order of Finish: 2,1,3).
SINGLES
No. 1 - #100 Cant (MSU) def. #8 Quigley (UK) 6-4, 7-5; No. 2 - #37 Musialek (UK) def. Ilyushin (MSU) 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3; No. 3 - Cox (UK) def. #101 Coupland (MSU) 6-3, 6-4; No. 4 - Rossi (UK) def. Lastre (MSU) 6-4, 6-2; No. 5 - Gonzalez (UK) def. Max Gregor Smith (MSU) 6-0, 6-1; No. 6 - Sanchez (MSU) def. Graeme Dyce (UK) 6-3, 6-4; (Order of Finish: 3,4,1,5,2,6).
Players Mentioned
