Mississippi State
Florida
State Men's Tennis Drops Nailbiter To No. 19 Florida, 4-3
March 26, 2011 | Men's Tennis
MSU had its four-match win streak snapped while the Gators were able to snap their two-match skid with the winning decision that took almost five hours to decide.
"We didn't do a good job in the doubles but we still gave us a chance to win with our play in singles," Coach Per Nilsson said. "We gave away too much though to beat a team like Florida. We'll have to regroup next week and prepare for next weekend's tough matches."
State was swept in doubles by Florida who has won the doubles point in 12 of its 17 matches this season. MSU slipped up first at court three where State tandem of Artem Ilyushin and Zach White dropped their first SEC match of the season in an 8-5 decision to Andrew Butz and Spencer Newman of the Gators. The Gators clinched the doubles point at the No. 1 spot where the 69th-ranked Bulldog tandem of Louis Cant and Malte Stropp couldn't complete the upset of Florida's 46th-ranked duo of Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Lacroix, 8-4. The sweep was completed at the No. 2 position when James Chaudry and George Coupland of MSU dropped an 8-6 match to Billy Federhofer and Nassim Slilam of Florida.
State bounced back early in singles, though, as MSU's No. 85 ranked Coupland won easily against the Gators Slilam at the No. 3 slot, 6-1, 6-0, tying the match at 1-1. Coupland claimed his fourth-straight victory and improved to 4-2 in SEC play.
The Bulldogs took their first lead of the match when No. 92 ranked Bulldog Cant claimed his fifth-straight victory and defeated Florida's Butz in identical sets, 6-4, 6-4. Cant improved to 10-3 in dual matches and is 5-1 in league action.
Florida evened the score at 2-2 with a victory at the No. 2 spot. MSU's Chaudry dropped just the second dual match of his career while playing for the first time ever at the No. 2 spot, falling 6-3, 6-2, to 39th-ranked Bangoura of Florida.
MSU's Stropp responded soundly with a steady three-set victory to give the Maroon and White a 3-2 lead. After taking the opening set, 6-2, Stropp dropped the second set but rebounded with a 6-3 finish in the third to claim the win over the Gator's Federhofer 6-2, 5-7, 6-3. Stropp improved to 10-2 in dual match play, 4-1 in SEC action and has now won five-straight matches.
The score was evened once again with a three-set match falling in favor of the Gators on court 6. The MSU freshman White won the opening set in a tiebreaker, 7-6(6), but eventually fell, 6-3, 6-2, to Florida's Newman to give the Gators their third point. It snapped a four-match win streak for the MSU freshman and was only his second conference loss of the season.
That put all eyes on the top spot in the lineup, where MSU's 84th-ranked Ilyushin was battling one of the best players in the country in sixth-ranked Lacroix and forced the Gator senior into a third-set tiebreaker after a back-and-forth third set. Lacroix took an early 4-1 lead in the breaker, but Ilyushin rallied to within one at 6-5 before Lacroix hit a big serve down the middle to clinch the victory and the match.
The Bulldogs, who played in front of 422 supportive fans at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre, will remain at home next weekend to host two more high-quality opponents in No. 2 Tennessee and No. 11 Georgia. The Bulldogs and Volunteers will square off on Friday, Apr. 1 at 2 p.m. followed by a Sunday match in the battle of Bulldogs at 1 p.m.
#19 Florida 4, #31 Mississippi State 3
Starkville, Miss. - 3/26/11
DOUBLES
No. 1 - #46 Sekou Bangoura Jr./Alexandre Lacroix (UF) def. #69 Louis Cant/Malte Stropp (MSU) 8-4; No. 2 -Billy Federhofer/Nassim Slilam (UF) def. James Chaudry/George Coupland (MSU) 8-6; No. 3 - Andrew Butz/Spencer Newman (UF) def. Artem Ilyushin/Zach White (MSU) 8-5; (Order of Finish: 3,1,2).
SINGLES
No. 1 - #6 Lacroix (UF) def. #84 Ilyushin (MSU) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5); No. 2 - #39 Bangoura Jr. (UF) def. Chaudry (MSU) 6-3, 6-2; No. 3 - #85 Coupland (MSU) def. Slilam (UF) 6-1, 6-0; No. 4 - Stropp (MSU) def. Federhofer (UF) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3; No. 5 - #92 Cant (MSU) def. Butz (UF) 6-4, 6-4; No. 6 - Newman (UF) def. White (MSU) 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2; (Order of Finish: 3,5,2,4,6,1).
Players Mentioned
