Mississippi State
Kentucky
No. 10 State Tennis Falls At No. 6 Kentucky In Top 10 SEC Matchup
April 07, 2012 | Men's Tennis
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Seeking a share of the lead in the SEC, Mississippi State's 10th-ranked men's tennis crew (16-5, 7-2 SEC) dropped a tough 6-1 decision at No. 6 league-leading Kentucky (21-4, 9-0 SEC) on Friday.
With a share of the SEC lead on the line, the two conference foes were in an immediate battle as doubles play began.
Taking the early match on court 3 was the Kentucky duo of Alejandro Gomez and Tom Jomby with an 8-3 ousting of the Zach White and Ethan Wilkinson MSU duo.
However, the other two courts would prove to be a much different story. In the No. 2 position for the Bulldogs was the 43rd-ranked duo of George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin. Falling behind 5-3 early, the State tandem would fight back to tie the match at 5-5 with UK's Alex Musialek and Anthony Rossi. However, Kentucky would take three out of the remaining four games and earn the doubles point for the Wildcats with an 8-6 win.
Falling behind 6-2 at No. 1, the 32nd-ranked MSU duo of Louis Cant and Malte Stropp would rally to win three-straight games and close the gap to 6-5. Kentucky's Panav Jha and Eric Quigley, ranked No. 18 in the recent ITA poll, would take the next game but the MSU duo would again close the gap to 7-6 before play was suspended due to the clincher on court 2.
Swinging to singles action, Kentucky continued its momentum, taking five out of six first sets against the Bulldogs, but not without a tremendous fight from State. Five of the six first sets were determined by 7-5 or 7-6 scores, with UK ultimately claiming four of those five decisions to set up its victory. At one point in the match, four singles matches simultaneously stood at 5-5 in the first set.
Grant Roberts extended the Wildcat lead to 2-0 on court 6 with a hard-fought 7-6(8), 6-1 win over State's White. In the No. 5 position for UK was Alejandro Gomez where he faced MSU's 46th-ranked Coupland. Dropping the first set 6-1, Coupland would battle back to the take the second 6-3 and send the match to a third set. However, Gomez would prove too much as he took the third and the match 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
The match-clincher came in the third position where Kentucky's 22nd-ranked Rossi faced No. 67 Stropp of MSU. In a tight match through the first set, the two dueled to a tiebreaker, which Rossi claim 7-4. In the second, Stropp was unable to match his opponent's efforts as he fell 7-6(4), 6-3 giving the Wildcats the team triumph.
As the match was already clinched, the remaining three duels would be decided in tight fashion as well.
On court 2 for MSU was James Chaudry as he faced Kentucky's 18th-ranked Musialek. Battling back and forth to send the first set to a tiebreaker, Musialek was able to earn the early advantage with a 7-6(4) first set victory. In the second, Chaudry would take an early break from his Wildcat foe as he held a 5-3 advantage. However, Musialek rallied to win four-straight games and take the match 7-6(4), 7-5 and extend Kentucky's lead to 5-0.
In the marquee matchup of the day at the top spot was MSU's No. 15 Ilyushin battling seventh-ranked Quigley of Kentucky. Falling in a tight 7-5 first set, Ilyushin would rally to take the second 7-6(1). Unfortunately, Quigley proved too much as he took the match 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-1. The setback was Ilyushin's first in SEC play this season.
The final match of the day would be decided on court 4 where No. 44 Cant battled Kentucky's 91st-ranked Jomby. Falling in the first set 7-5, Jomby would breeze through the second 6-1 to take the match to a third. Staying with the tone of the day, the match went to a third-set tiebreaker, which Cant claimed to post a 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(2) win and earn State's lone point of the contest.
"We really did not play well enough," head coach Per Nilsson said. "Our guys lost in some extremely tight sets and you can't afford that when playing a team like Kentucky. We just have to fight past today, turn around and bring home the win on Sunday."
MSU will be back in action on Sunday as the Bulldogs face the No. 40 Vanderbilt Commodores at 1 p.m. CT in Nashville. The match will be played at the Currey Tennis Center on Vanderbilt's campus.
No. 6 Kentucky 6 , No. 10 Mississippi State 1
4/6/12 - Boone Tennis Complex - Lexington, Ky.
DOUBLES
1) #18 Panav Jha/Eric Quigley (UK) vs. #32 Louis Cant/Malte Stropp (MSU) 7-6 (susp.)
2) Alex Musialek/Anthony Rossi (UK) def. #43 George Coupland/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) 8-6
3) Alejandro Gomez/Tom Jomby (UK) def. Zach White/Ethan Wilkinson (MSU) 8-3
SINGLES
1) #7 Quigley (UK) def. #15 Ilyushin (MSU) 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-1
2) #18 Musialek (UK) def. James Chaudry (MSU) 7-6(4), 7-5
3) #22 Rossi (UK) def. #67 Stropp (MSU) 7-6(4), 6-3
4) #44 Cant (MSU) def. #91 Jomby (UK) 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(2)
5) Gomez (UK) def. #46 Coupland (MSU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
6) Grant Roberts (UK) def. White (MSU) 7-6(8), 6-1
Order of finish... Doubles (3,2)... Singles (6,5,3,2,1,4)
Players Mentioned
