Mississippi State
Louisiana-Lafayette
Newcomers Shine For MSU In 2012 Spring Opener
February 05, 2012 | Women's Tennis
Starkville, Miss. - Mississippi State's Lady Bulldog tennis squad posted a 4-0 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette in their 2012 opening match.
Although weather conditions were not working to the advantage of Mississippi State, moving the matches indoors to McCarthy Gymnasium did not seem to hinder Lady Bulldog play in any way.
The day's competition began with doubles matches. For Naomi Tran, Ekaterina Iakovleva, and Khrystyna Pavlyuk, these matches marked their debut into dual play with the Lady Bulldogs.
Pavlyuk and Perper quickly and efficiently took down the ULL pair of Aarsen and Wilbert 8-2. Iakovleva and Tran followed shortly afterwards with an 8-4 victory over Milou Isreal and Briggit Marcovich.
Iakovleva, who Coach Daryl Greenan described as "deadly" in singles play, smoothly swept her opponent 6-0, 6-0. However, the remaining singles matches would present several grueling games before the Lady Bulldogs could claim the overall victory.
Both Alexandra Perper and Khrystyna Pavlyuk battled back and forth with their respective opponents before winning their first sets in 7-6(6) tiebreakers.
Pavlyuk was able to seal the deal in the second set, winning 6-1. Perper, however, fell 1-6 in the second set, but was able to summon the strength to fight back in the third to put the nail in the coffin with a 6-4 win over Aarssen.
Greenan was very pleased with the effort shown by Pavlyuk and Perper, as well as with the promising performance shown by the rest of the team.
"Perper battled extremely hard in her first match back after wrist surgery and Khrystyna fought hard for the clincher." "I am proud of the way our new girls competed in their first ever dual matches. ULL came to play and it was a hard earned 4-0 sweep."
The Lady Bulldogs will return to the Pitts Center tomorrow as they take on Northwestern State. Play is set to begin at 12 p.m.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 4, Louisiana-Lafayette 0 February 4, 2012 - Starkville, Miss.
DOUBLES - Khrystyna Pavlyuk/Alexandra Perper (MSU) def. Sophie van den Aarssen/Erin Wilbert 8-2; Ekaterina Iakovleva/Naomi Tran (MSU) def. Milou Isreal/Briggit Marcovich (ULL) 8-4; Petra Ferancova/Olesya Tsigvintseva (MSU), Hannah Appleyard/Sandra Alqvist (did not play).
SINGLES - Iakovleva (MSU) def. Marcovich (ULL) 6-0, 6-0; Alexandra Perper (MSU) def. Aarssen (ULL) 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-4; Pavlyuk (MSU) def. Isreal (ULL) 7-6(6), 6-1; Roseline Dion (MSU), Wilbert (ULL) (did not play); Tsigvintseva (MSU), Tara Vasovic (ULL) (did not play); Ferancova (MSU), Ahlqvist (ULL) (did not play). *Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,-), Singles (1,2,3,-,-,-)
