Mississippi State
Tennessee
Bulldog Tennis Registers Huge Upset Of #4 Tennessee, 6-1
April 01, 2011 | Men's Tennis
The win, which came on the heels of MSU's tough 4-3 loss to #19 Florida last weekend, improved the Bulldogs to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in the Southeastern Conference. The powerful Volunteer squad suffered just its third defeat of 2011 and first in SEC play, falling to 16-3, 6-1 in the league.
The victory was State's first over a top 4 opponent since 2002, when the Sylvain Guichard-led Bulldogs upset #4 Kentucky 4-3 in Lexington.
“I think now we know that we can hang with the best teams in the country,” MSU head coach Per Nilsson said. “I think everybody has seen that we have been making improvements by getting good players back out here again and putting together solid teams. We just haven't won a big one until now.
“The guys did a great job…they were amazing today. Everything came together and everybody had a chance. It was very close though – Tennessee has a great team and they could have easily won a few that would have swung the match in their favor.”
State came out firing in doubles Friday. MSU, which had won the doubles point only five times in 15 matches this season, went up against a strong Vols lineup that had claimed the point in 15 of their 18 contests coming in.
UT took the first match, with the nation's top-ranked team of Boris Conkic and John-Patrick Smith ousting 84th-ranked Bulldogs Louis Cant and Malte Stropp 8-3. State evened things when George Coupland and Artem Ilyuhsin paired to upset 61st-ranked Vols Tennys Sandgren and Rhyne Williams by the same score at #2. All eyes then turned to court 3, where Bulldogs James Chaudry and Zach White fought hard to earn a 9-8(2) tiebreak win over Vols Matteo Fago and Jarryd Chaplin.
The Bulldogs rode the momentum from doubles into singles and took control of the match early by claiming the first set in four of the six singles matches, all in some very close contests.
Tennessee would even the match at 1-1 when Sandgren, ranked 48th nationally, bested MSU's Chaudry at the No. 3 position 6-4, 6-2. But that would be the only point the Vols would record all afternoon, as State finished the matches in which it had gained a lead in straight sets.
Putting the Bulldogs up 2-1 was Cant, who gained his sixth-consecutive win. Ranked 77th nationally, the junior overcame a 4-1 deficit in the first set to come back and win 7-5, 6-0 over UT's 121st-ranked Conkic at the No. 5 spot. Not too long after that, MSU's94th-ranked Ilyushin played a very focused affair to upset UT's 12th-ranked Smith at the top spot in the lineup 6-4, 6-4. It was the highest-ranked win for the Bulldog junior during his career and gave State a 3-1 advantage.
The final three matches on court were all very tight, with MSU holding one-set leads in two of them, but UT was charging back in both.
Stropp, the State freshman from Dusseldorf, Germany, would get the clinching point for the Bulldogs. After winning the first set 6-4 at No. 4, he found himself down 3-1 in the second to UT's 56th-ranked Fago, but battled back to win five of the last six games for a 6-4, 6-4 victory that gave the Bulldogs the big win. It was Stropp's sixth-straight win and the highest-ranked triumph of his young career.
After the match had been clinched, MSU's 76th-ranked Coupland gained a win over fourth-ranked Vol Williams at the No. 2 spot when Williams defaulted with Coupland leading 7-6(6), 5-6. MSU would complete the day's action with another win from a rookie, as White rallied for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Chaplin at No. 6.
“We had an incredible atmosphere today (from our fans) and it really helps firing the guys up,” Nilsson said. “We need another big crowd Sunday when we host another talented top 10 team in Georgia.”
The Bulldog tennis squad will meet the No. 9 Bulldogs from Athens Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at the Pitts Tennis Centre.
#32 MISSISSIPPI STATE
6, #4 TENNESSEE 1
April 1, 2011 – Starkville Miss.
DOUBLES – #1 Boris Conkic/John-Patrick Smith (UT) def. #84
Louis Cant/Malte Stropp (MSU) 8-3; George Coupland/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def.
#61 Tennys Sandgren/Rhyne Williams (UT) 8-3; James Chaudry/Zach White (MSU)
def. Jarryd Chaplin/Matteo Fago (UT) 9-8(2).
Order of finish: 1,2,3.
SINGLES – #94 Ilyushin (MSU) def. #12 Smith (UT) 6-4, 6-4;
#76 Coupland (MSU) def. #4 Williams (UT) 7-6(6), 5-6(ret.); #48 Sandgren (UT)
def. Chaudry (MSU) 6-4, 6-2; Stropp (MSU) def. #56 Fago (UT) 6-3, 6-4; #77 Cant
(MSU) def. #121 Conkic (UT) 7-5, 6-0; White (MSU) def. Chaplin (UT) 4-6, 6-4,
6-4.
Order of finish: 3,5,1,4,2,6.
Players Mentioned
