Mississippi State
Northwestern State
Lady Bulldog Tennis Falls In Heartbreaker Against Northwestern State
February 06, 2012 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. - In a nail-biting finish, the Mississippi State Lady Bulldog tennis squad fell 4-3 to the Lady Demons of Northwestern State University Sunday afternoon on the MSU campus.
State gained the opening point of the day after a big rally at the No. 2 position.
To begin the day's competition, Ekaterina Iakovleva and Naomi Tran were unable to execute a Mississippi State win against Olga Bazhanova and Polina Konop of NSU won 8-1 on court 1. Petra Ferancova and Olesya Tsigvintseva of MSU evened things up, defeating Dana Sardak and Amy Williams 8-4 at the No. 3 spot.
That left Lady Bulldogs Khrystyna Pavlyuk and Alexandra Perper on the court against the NSU duo of Tatiana Larina and Andrea Nedrostova?to decide the first point of the day at No. 2. The State tandem showed impressive stamina. Trailing?6-2, they reeled off six?straight games to take the match 8-6.
MSU got off to a great start in singles with consecutive 6-3, 6-1 victories by Alexandra Perper and Naomi Tran on courts two and six. Perper ousted Lady Demon?Nedorostova, while the newcomer Tran bested Sardak?to earn her first singles win as a Lady Bulldog.
Competition grew tenser as MSU's Roseline Dion fell to Polina Konop 6-2, 6-2 on court 4 and NSU's Larina defeated Pavlyuk 6-2, 6-3 on No. 3, leaving the score at 3-2 in favor of Mississippi State.
State's Petra Ferancova battled to close the deficit and was able to break back several times before ultimately falling to Amy Williams of the Lady Demons 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 5 position, tying the match at 3-3.
That left the match to be decided at the top spot in the lineup where MSU newcomer Iakovleva was in a three-set war with NSU's Bazhanova.
What began with a nearly effortless 6-1 first-set victory for Iakovleva quickly turned into a grueling contest. Bazhanova would claim the second set in a tough 7-4 tiebreaker, setting up the decisive third set. In the third, both players had service break advantage and neither allowed the other to gain a comfortable lead and played to a 4-4 tie. But Bazhanova took the final two games and the 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 win to clinch the match for NSU.
Following the tough loss, head coach Daryl Greenan recognized that there is room for improvement, but he remains confident in his team's ability.
"We had our chances today, but we just couldn't finish," Greenan said.?"We just need to keep working hard and we will continue to put ourselves in winning positions."
Lady Bulldog tennis will be on the courts once again on Saturday, Feb. 11,?at 1 p.m. as they host Southern University.
DOUBLES
1) Olga Bazhanova/Polina Konop (NSU) def. Ekaterina Iakovleva/Naomi Tran (MSU) 8-1
2) Khrystyna Pavlyuk/Alexandra Perper (MSU) def.Tatiana Larina/Andrea Nedorostova (NSU) 8-6
3) Petra Ferancova/Olesya Tsigvintseva (MSU) def. Dana Sardak/Amy Williams (NSU) 8-4.
SINGLES ?
1) Olga Bazhanova (NSU) def. Ekaterina Iakovleva (MSU) 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4
2) Alexandra Perper (MSU) def. Andrea Nedorostova? (NSU) 6-3, 6-1
3) Tatiana Larina (NSU) def. Khrystyna Pavlyuk (MSU) 6-2, 6-3
4) Polina Konop (NSU) def. Roseline Dion (MSU) 6-2, 6-2
5) Amy Williams (NSU) def. Petra Ferancova (MSU) 6-2, 6-4
6) Naomi Tran (MSU) def. Dana Sardak (NSU) 6-3, 6-1.
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2), Singles (2,6,4,3,5,1)
