No. 27 MSU Women?s Tennis Hits Road At No. 16 Auburn
March 23, 2016 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. – After a weekend at home, the 27th-ranked Mississippi State women's tennis team (11-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) travels to Alabama to take on the 16th-ranked Auburn Tigers (16-4, 4-2 SEC) on Thursday, March 24. Match time is set for 2 p.m. CT at AU's Yarbrough Tennis Center. Auburn will be the sixth consecutive top 20 team the Bulldogs have faced.
State enters the Thursday's match after dropping a pair of decisions to two teams in this week's ITA top 10 at home this past weekend. After falling in a tough 4-3 decision to now 8th-ranked South Carolina in a hard fought battle on Saturday, MSU also fell in a 4-0 decision to now 7th-ranked Florida on Sunday. In fact, four of State's five setbacks this spring have come to teams in the current ITA top 10.
MSU's 13th-ranked Jasmine Lee looks to bounce back after going 1-1 at the top spot this past weekend. She is 10-4 at that spot and recorded her 20th victory against a ranked opponent with her 6-4, 6-1 victory on Saturday against the Gamecocks.
Bulldog Georgiana Patrasc was also able to pick up a singles win against South Carolina at No. 2, propelling her to No. 71 in the national singles rankings. The 100th-ranked MSU rookie Anastasia Rentouli will look to turn things around this weekend after a tough loss on Saturday.
The sophomore tandem of Madison Harrison and Kristina Vozniak will take the court together for the first time since the fall slate to represent State at the No. 1 position this weekend. MSU's duo of Lee and Louise Ronaldson will be on court 2 looking to improve on their 9-1 dual match and 4-1 conference records. Also making an appearance for the first time since the fall is the pair of No. 61 Georgiana Patrasc and Anastasia Rentouli, who posted a 10-2 record during last semester.
Auburn split its conference matches this past weekend, both on the road. The Tigers defeated No. 59 Missouri in Columbia 5-2 but fell 6-1 at No. 26 Arkansas. Three of the Tigers' four losses this spring have come to teams ranked in the current top 11 nationally.
The Tigers boast three ranked singles players in No. 31 Andie Dikosavljevic, No. 46 Alizee Michaud and No. 77 Pleun Burgmans. On the doubles side, AU fields two ranked pairs in No. 24 Burgmans and Michaud and No. 49 Burgmans and Paula de Man.
Live stats will be available for the match on Thursday via auburntigers.com.
Following Thursday's action, State remains in Alabama for yet another ranked challenge on Saturday, March 26, taking on No. 48 Alabama at 1 p.m. in Tuscaloosa.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateWT.
