Mississippi State
Kentucky
MSU Women?s Tennis Drops 4-3 Heartbreaker To No. 24 Kentucky
March 15, 2014 | Women's Tennis
With the loss, the Bulldogs fell to 9-6 overall and 1-4 in SEC play. Kentucky improved to 14-3 and 4-1. MSU will be back in action on Sunday, as they wrap up their four-match homestand against No. 11 Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available at hailstate.com.
On Friday against UK, the 40th-ranked MSU duo of Alexandra Perper and Naomi Tran began doubles play by earning their third SEC win on court 1, taking a solid 8-5 decision over UK's No. 56 Caitlin McGraw and CeCe Witten. The Wildcats would respond with an 8-4 win on court 3 over Ferancova and Georgiana Patrasc, and would later claim the doubles point, as State's Rosie Dion and Timea Guibe fell in a tough 8-7(5) tiebreaker to Nadia Ravita and Aldila Sutjiadi at No. 2.
Despite the close loss in doubles, State came out firing in singles and put significant pressure on UK by claiming the first set in three matches. In fact, the Bulldogs would claim all three of those contests to take a 3-1 lead in the match.
MSU's Tran would begin the scoring in singles by earning an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win over McGraw on court 6. The Bulldogs would then take 1 2-1 lead when No. 65 Patrasc earned her third dual match win over a ranked opponent, defeating No. 54 Nadia Ravita 6-2, 6-4 on court 1. The State freshman Guibe then earned her second straight SEC victory, taking her match in convincing fashion on No. 4, 6-2, 6-2 over Edmee Morin.
But UK would eventually pull out the three matches where it held one-set leads to claim the win. Sutjiadi held off MSU's Perper 6-3, 7-5 on court 2 and State's Dion fell 6-4, 6-3 to Dieters on No. 3 to make the score 3-3. And despite her best efforts for a comeback, MSU's Petra Ferancova then fell 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in a hard-fought affair to UK's Kirsten Lewis at No. 5 in the deciding match.
“It was an exciting college match,” said head coach Daryl Greenan. “I think it was a match we should have won. We can take some positives away from the close loss against such a strong team, but we need to learn quickly from our mistakes or else we will just keep coming close.”
For more information on the Mississippi State women's tennis team, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter (@HailStateWT), Facebook (HailStateWT) and Instagram (HailStateWT).
No. 24 Kentucky 4, No. 61 Mississippi State 3
March 14, 2014 – A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre – Starkville, Miss.
Doubles
1. Alexandra Perper/Naomi Tran (MSU) def. No. 56 Caitlin McGraw/CeCe Witten (UK), 8-5
2. Nadia Ravita/Aldila Sutjiadi (UK) def. Roseline Dion/Timea Guibe (MSU), 8-7(5)
3. Kristen Lewis/Edmee Morin (UK) def. Petra Ferancova/Georgiana Patrasc (MSU), 8-4
Singles
1. No. 65 Georgiana Patrasc (MSU) def. No. 54 Nadia Ravita (UK), 6-2, 6-4
2. Aldila Sutjiadi (UK) def. Alexandra Perper (MSU), 6-3, 7-5
3. Kelsey Dieters (UK) def. Roseline Dion (MSU), 6-4, 6-3
4. Timea Guibe (MSU) def. Edmee Morin (UK), 6-2, 6-2
5. Kirsten Lewis (UK) def. Petra Ferancova (MSU), 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
6. Naomi Tran (MSU) def. Caitlin McGraw (UK), 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish
Doubles: 1,3,2
Singles: 6,1,4,2,3,5
Players Mentioned
