Mississippi State
Auburn
#25 Bulldog Tennis Upends #21 Auburn On The Plains, 5-2
April 08, 2011 | Men's Tennis
State, which had upset #4 Tennessee last Friday, improved to 11-7 overall and 6-3 in the Southeastern Conference, still atop the Western Division. The Bulldogs have won six of their last eight contests, with the only losses coming to top 20 teams in 4-3 decisions. Auburn fell to 12-8, 4-5 SEC with the setback.
The Bulldogs gained the first point of the evening with a well-earned doubles point against a favored Auburn lineup. Bulldogs Louis Cant and Malte Stropp, ranked 84th, led things off with an 8-5 upset of 28th-ranked Tigers Daniel Cochrane and Tim Puetz at the top spot. MSU's duo of George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin then followed that win an 8-5 win of their own, upending the 45th-ranked Auburn team of Alex Stamchev and Andreas Mies at No. 2. AU salvaged the final doubles match with a 9-8(5) tiebreak win at No. 3, where Lucas Lopasso and Rafael Rondino edged MSU's James Chaudry and Zach White.
Auburn evened things at 1-1 when the 15th-ranked Puetz ousted MSU's 76th-ranked Coupland 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 1 singles position. State regained the lead at 2-1 when the rookie Stropp continued his outstanding play with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the Tigers' Cochrane at the No. 4 spot. Auburn evened the match again when Stamchev, ranked 118th nationally, downed MSU's Ilyushin, ranked 94th, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2.
State would then get two wins almost simultaneously to clinch the team victory. Chaudry rallied back in a fury to claim a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 win at the No. 3 position over Tiger Tim Hewitt for a 3-2 MSU lead. The rookie White then fought off a second-set challenge from Rondino at No. 6 to clinch the win for the Bulldogs in a 6-2, 7-6(3) triumph.
The final match of the day would go to State's 77th-ranked Cant in a close decision. The junior won his eighth in a row as well, holding off Auburn's Mies 7-5, 6-7(3), 1-0(8) at No. 5.
“We played a very focused match today and we had to have that to pull off this win,” MSU head coach Per Nilsson said. “Auburn is a very good team and tough at home. Now we need to regroup and quickly prepare for yet another tough one at Alabama Sunday.”
The Bulldog tennis squad will next meet #42 Alabama on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Tuscaloosa before returning home next Saturday, April 16, to close out the regular season hosting 32nd-ranked arch rival Ole Miss at 1 p.m.
#25 MISSISSIPPI STATE
5, #21 AUBURN 2
April 8, 2011 – Auburn, Ala.
DOUBLES –#84 Louis Cant/Malte Stropp (MSU) def. #28 Tim Puetz/Daniel Cochrane (AU), 8-5;
George Coupland/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def. #45 Alex Stamchev/Andreas Mies (AU) 8-5; Lucas Lopasso/Rafael Rondino (AU) def. James Chaudry/Zach White
(MSU) 9-8(5).
Order of finish: 1,2,3.
SINGLES –#15 Puetz (AU) def. #76 Coupland (MSU) 6-4, 6-2; #118
Stamchev (AU) def. #94 Ilyushin (MSU) 6-4, 6-2; Chaudry (MSU) def. Tim Hewitt
(AU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-0; Stropp (MSU) def. Cochrane (AU) 6-2, 6-2; #77 Cant (MSU)
def. Mies (AU) 7-5, 6-7(3), 1-0(8); White (MSU) def. Rondino (AU), 6-2, 7-6(3).
Order of finish: 1,4,2,3,6,5.
Players Mentioned
