NO. 28 MSU WOMEN?S TENNIS HITS ROAD TO NO. 16 TEXAS A&M
March 10, 2016 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. – For its first road Southeastern Conference match of 2016, the 28th-ranked Mississippi State women's tennis team (10-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) travels to No. 16 Texas A&M (9-4, 1-1) for a showdown on Friday at 5 p.m. CT at A&M's Mitchell Tennis Center.
“We have to keep doing what we've been doing,” head coach Daryl Greenan said. “The girls are giving a lot of heart from beginning to end. We just have to keep bringing it and we will start getting the outcome we want.”
Just last weekend, the Bulldogs split its home matches with No. 71 Tennessee and No. 3 Georgia. MSU defeated UT on Friday 6-1 to claim its first conference opener victory since 2010 and fell in a tough 5-2 decision to UGA Sunday, State dropping the last three matches all in three-setters.
State had a school-record seven players ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings this week.
Anastasia Rentouli, at No. 51, looks to keep her dual match singles record spotless going into the weekend, as she is undefeated at 10-0 this spring, 2-0 in the SEC. MSU boasts two other ranked players in 9th-ranked Jasmine Lee and No. 86 Georgiana Patrasc who look to bounce back after losses in Sunday's match ended lengthy winning streaks for each player.
Madison Harrison (6-4, 0-2), Kristina Vozniak (8-2, 1-1) and Jennifer Brown (7-2, 1-1) round out the singles lineup.
On the doubles side, State's lineup consists of three ranked tandems in No. 34 Harrison and Patrasc, No. 43 Lee and Louise Ronaldson as well as Brown and Vozniak coming in at 70th overall. Lee and Ronaldson look to continue their spotless 7-0, 2-0 record in tact as well.
The Aggies enter the weekend after splitting their first two SEC matches as well. On Friday they fell to now No. 11 Auburn 4-2 and bounced back on Sunday with a 4-1 victory against No. 38 Alabama. 40th-ranked Saska Gavrilovska leads the team with a dual match singles record of 4-1, 1-1 SEC. In doubles, they boast two ranked tandems in No. 41 Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson as well as Rutuja Bhosale and Ana Mamalat at the 56th spot.
Live stats and video will be available for the match on Friday via 12thman.com.
Following Friday's match, MSU makes the trip to Baton Rouge for its fourth straight ranked contest, meeting No. 15 LSU (12-4, 1-1 SEC) on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateWT.
