No. 25 MSU Opens SEC Tournament Against No. 20 Kentucky
April 21, 2016 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. – With the regular season officially concluded, the 25th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (15-7, 7-5) begins its run at the Southeastern Conference Championship as the Bulldogs face No. 20 Kentucky (19-8, 8-5) in the third round of play on Friday at 1 p.m. CT.
The University of South Carolina will host the tournament, with all matches taking place at the Carolina Tennis Center. Full coverage of the tournament can be found at www.gamecocksonline.com.
Kentucky defeated Tennessee, 4-3, on Thursday to move on to Friday's showdown with MSU. The Bulldogs received a bye into the third round after a three-way tiebreaker with UK and Arkansas gave MSU the No. 4 seed in the tournament bracket.
“We've had a great week of preparation and our guys are very excited to start play this Friday against Kentucky,” head coach Matt Roberts said. “We're in the postseason now, so we have to turn the switch to the next level. I think we've improved so much from the start of the season until now and I'm excited to see how much our guys will grow this weekend.”
MSU defeated the Wildcats in Starkville back on March 12, in convincing fashion, 5-0. The win remains MSU's biggest upset of the season, as UK was ranked 12th in the nation at the time. The Bulldogs received singles wins from Rishab Agarwal, Nuno Borges, Niclas Braun and Strahinja Rakic before claiming the doubles point from the Wildcats.
This Friday's match will feature a similar lineup in singles for MSU, as the Bulldogs will go with No. 33 Mate Cutura, No. 60 Agarwal, No. 98 Borges, Braun, Rakic and Luka Sucevic.
In doubles, State will go with the No. 43 ranked duo of Cutura and Vaughn Hunter at the top of the order, Braun and Trevor Foshey at No. 2 and the tandem of Agarwal and Borges at the No. 3 position.
If the Maroon and White should defeat Big Blue on Friday, the Bulldogs will face the winner of No. 6 Georgia and No. 29 Ole Miss on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow “HailStateMT” on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
