Mississippi State
TCU
Bulldog Tennis Wins Third-Straight With 5-2 Takedown At TCU
February 25, 2011 | Men's Tennis
FORT WORTH, Texas - With a 5-2 win the No. 33 ranked Mississippi State men's tennis squad claimed its third-straight victory and also earned its first road win of the season by taking down 47th-ranked TCU. MSU (4-3) is now 2-2 all-time against TCU who dropped their fifth-straight match.
MSU slipped up early on in the match dropping the doubles point. Bulldog duo George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin dropped an 8-4 decision at the No. 1 spot to TCU's 48th-ranked Emanuel Brighiu and Christopher Price. The Horned Frogs of TCU clinched the doubles point at the No. 2 position where MSU's James Chaudry and Tanner Stump fell to Slah Mbarek and Cameron Nash, 8-4. With the doubles point already going to TCU, State won at the No. 3 slot where freshman duo Malte Stropp and Zach White claimed an 8-5 victory over Zach Nichols and Daniel Sanchez of the Horned Frogs.
MSU got things revved up in singles play. First at the No. 6 position State's Zach White won his second-straight match and improved to 2-2 in dual match play with a straight-set win over TCU's Nash, 6-1, 6-2, to even the score of the match to 1-1.
At the No. 2 slot is where MSU took its first lead of the match with State's Ilyushin playing with his highest ranking of his career at No. 53 in the country. Ilyushin reeled off a straight-set win over the Horned Frogs' Mbarek, 6-4, 6-3, claiming his fourth-straight victory. At the No. 5 spot, State's 73rd-ranked Louis Cant defeated former Bulldog Daniel Sanchez who now plays for TCU, 6-3, 6-1. Cant has now won three-straight and seven of his previous eight matches.
The Bulldogs clinched the match at the No. 4 position with MSU's Stropp defeating Price of the Horned Frogs, 7-6, 6-1. Stropp has now won three-straight matches. Claiming the final point for the Maroon and White was MSU's Chaudry who improved to a perfect 4-0 in dual match play and won his sixth-straight by defeating TCU's Nichols, 7-5, 6-3, at the No. 3 slot.
State's only loss in singles came at the No. 1 position where State's Coupland had his two-match win streak snapped with a 7-5, 6-3, slip up to Birghiu of TCU.
"It was a really solid effort by our guys in singles, especially the way that Zach (White) and Malte (Stropp) played," Coach Per Nilsson said. "It was a quality win for us and now we need to turn our focus to Baylor on Sunday."
MSU will try to extend its win streak to four on Sunday at Waco, Texas, where they'll face the No. 11 nationally ranked Baylor Bears.
#33 MSU 5, #47 TCU 2
Fort Worth, Texas - 2/25/11
DOUBLES
No. 1 - #48 Emanuel Brighiu/Christopher Price (TCU) def. George Coupland/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) 8-4; No. 2 - Slah Mbarek/Cameron Nash (TCU) def. James Chaudry/Tanner Stump (MSU) 8-4; No. 3 - Malte Stropp/Zach White (MSU) def. Zach Nichols/Daniel Sanchez (TCU) 8-5; (Order of Finish: 1,2,3).
SINGLES
No. 1 - Brighiu (TCU) def. Coupland (MSU) 7-5, 6-3; No. 2 - #53 Ilyushin (MSU) def. Mbarek (TCU) 6-4, 6-3; No. 3 - Chaudry (MSU) def. Nichols (TCU) 7-5, 6-3; No. 4 -Stropp (MSU) def. Price (TCU) 7-6, 6-1; No. 5 - #73 Louis Cant (MSU) def. Sanchez (TCU) 6-3, 6-1; No. 6 - White (MSU) def. Nash (TCU) 6-1, 6-2; (Order of Finish: 6,2,5,1,4,3).
Players Mentioned
