Mississippi State
Kentucky
Rain Postpones MSU-UK Match Until Saturday
March 12, 2016 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Friday's match between the 44th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (9-3, 1-1) and the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats (10-2, 2-0) has been postponed until Saturday morning at 10 a.m. CT.
Tomorrow's contest will be MSU's first Saturday match since Feb. 20 against Tulane. Due to the threat of inclement weather, Saturday's match time could be altered.
Last time out, MSU split its SEC opening weekend on the road with a loss to then No. 16 Georgia, 5-2, followed by a win against No. 73 USC, 5-2. In those two matches the highlight of the weekend was the play of Niclas Braun. The freshman earned two singles wins over the weekend to pace the Bulldogs and extend his eight-match win streak. Also in singles, junior Mate Cutura came up big. The 36th-ranked player in the nation picked up his third ranked win of the season after downing UGA's 27th-ranked Austin Smith.
The win against the No. 73 Gamecocks last Sunday was MSU's third ranked win of the season and its second on the road. This weekend the Bulldogs will have two opportunities to earn ranked wins, with the first coming against the No. 12 Wildcats.
Saturday's matchup will feature two ranked singles players for each squad, with the Bulldogs represented by No. 36 Cutura and No. 77 Rishab Agarwal and the Wildcats led by No. 23 William Bushamuka and No. 108 Ryotaro Matsamura. Big Blue also sports a ranked doubles tandem in 49th ranked Bushamuka and Beck Pennington.
UK is coming off a stellar weekend at home, after the Wildcats downed Arkansas and Ole Miss to jump up 10 spots in this week's ITA poll and move to a tie for first overall in the SEC standings. The Bulldogs downed the Wildcats last year in Lexington, 4-3, while MSU owns an 11-7 all-time advantage against UK in Starkville.
MSU faces its fifth consecutive ranked opponent on Sunday, as the Bulldogs host No. 72 Tennessee (6-6, 0-2)
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow “HailStateMT” on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
