No. 26 MSU Travels To New Orleans For Ranked Bout With No. 27 Tulane
February 19, 2016 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE,Miss. - Fresh off an undefeated homestand, the 26th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (7-2) travels south this Saturday for a ranked showdown with No. 27 Tulane (4-2) at 1 p.m. CT in New Orleans.
“We've known this would be a good match up for a while now,” MSU coach Matt Roberts said. “Our guys are looking forward to the challenge and are up for the task of going against a quality opponent. We've had a good week of practice and I want to see that translate to the court this Saturday.”
Last weekend the Bulldogs capped a three-week homestand by blanking UAB, 4-0, and Morehead State, 7-0, to extend its dominating seven-match win streak. State has not surrendered a point in six matches, shutting out visiting opponents by a margin of 30-0.
The freshman tandem of Nuno Borges and Niclas Braun have been crucial in the Bulldogs' recent success, each winning 11 matches in doubles and singles play in the last seven contests.
Junior Rishab Agarwal has also been a bright spot on the court after claiming six singles matches in the recent homestand. Agarwal's 7-1 dual-match record is the best on the team.
The Serbian pair of Strahinja Rakic and Luka Sucevic had an impressive showing their last time out, with each winning two singles matches last Saturday by a combined total of 48-13. Rakic has won five decisions in a row to improve his record to 5-3 on the young season, while Sucevic has won four in a row to earn a 4-1 ledger.
This Saturday's test will feature the 27th-ranked Tulane Green Wave, who has compiled a 4-2 record on the season after facing four ranked opponents. Tulane has two wins against ranked foes, defeating No. 52 Pepperdine and No. 36 Harvard, 4-0 and 4-3. The Green Wave has also dropped a pair of ranked matches, dropping a pair of 4-3 decisions to No. 9 USC and No. 40 Dartmouth.
The Green Wave's Dominik Koepfer (4-0) is the top-ranked singles player in the country, while the duo of Koepfer and Chi-Shan Jao (4-0) is the No. 7 doubles team in the nation.
Historically, MSU has had success against the Green Wave to the tune of a 10-6 record, but the Bulldogs are only 4-4 all-time against Tulane on the road. The match this Saturday will mark the first time the two teams have met since MSU's 7-0 win in 2011 at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
Looking past this Saturday, the Bulldogs will be idle until they kick off SEC play with a road swing against Georgia and South Carolina on March 4 and 6.
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