#22 Netters Suffer Third-Straight Heartbreaker With 4-3 Setback To #18 'Bama
May 25, 2016 | Men's Tennis
The loss dropped MSU to 6-5 overall, 0-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Alabama moved to 10-4, 3-2. The win for the Crimson Tide broke a seven-match losing skid to the Bulldogs in Starkville and marked State's first home loss of the 2002 season (now 6-1).
Alabama gained the early 1-0 advantage by winning the doubles point which would prove to be critical on the afternoon. After the teams traded wins at the top two positions, UA's duo of Nick Beuque and Chris McRae broke serve in the last game of the match at No. 3 to win 9-7 over MSU's Luiz Carvalho and Jerome Le Belicard.
In singles, the teams split first sets 3-3, meaning State would have to make a comeback in one of the three it lost to have a chance to win the match. The matches that the Bulldogs had gained control of early would actually be the first three to finish.
MSU tied things at 1-1 when Carvalho ousted McRae 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 5 singles position. The Bulldogs gained a 2-1 lead with a 6-0, 6-3 upset win from junior Rene-Charles Combette over Alabama's 78th-ranked Chris Gostek at No. 2. It was Combette's 10th win in 13 matches and his second in a row over a ranked foe.
State went up 3-1 with a solid victory from Romain Ambert at No. 1. Ranked sixth nationally, the Bulldog sophomore won for the 14th time in 15 tries with his 10th-straight win, 6-2, 6-2 over the Tide's 64th-ranked Max Belski.
But Alabama had secured the first set in each of the other three matches and did not let go of the lead in any of them. UA cut the score to 3-2 when Beuque won 6-3, 6-3 over State's Le Belicard at No. 4. Stephen Mitchell knotted things at 3-3 with a 6-3, 6-4 besting of MSU's David Ruiz at No. 3.
The Tide would get the clinching point in the final match at No. 6, where Christian Brodersen outlasted MSU's Aymeric Henou 6-4, 6-3. The loss broke a seven-match winning streak for the Bulldog true freshman and marked only his second loss of the dual match season (now 8-2).
Four of MSU's five losses this season have now come by 4-3 scores. The other was 4-2 with MSU leading in the final set of the last match when play was suspended.
"This was another tough one," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "We can't seem to get all of the pieces together on the same day right now. Every match we have lost this year, we have had a chance to win, but just haven't been able to get a point here or there to do it. As with the others, we just have to put this one behind us and keep fighting."
State returns to action Sunday, welcoming 13th-ranked Auburn at 1 p.m. in another very important SEC contest. The Tigers are 8-4, 3-2 in the SEC, following a tight 5-2 loss at ninth-ranked Mississippi Friday.
#18 ALABAMA 4, #22 MISSISSIPPI STATE 3
DOUBLES - #12 Romain Ambert/Rene-Charles Combette (MSU) def. Chris Gostek/Stephen Mitchell (UA) 8-2; Max Belski/Brad Friedman (UA) def. Max Fomine/Aymeric Henou (MSU) 8-3; Nick Beuque/Chris McRae (UA) def. Luiz Carvalho/Jerome Le Belicard (MSU) 9-7.
SINGLES - #6 Ambert (MSU) def. #64 Belski (UA) 6-2, 6-2; Combette (MSU) def. #78 Gostek (UA) 6-0, 6-3;Mitchell (UA) def. David Ruiz (MSU) 6-3, 6-4; Beuque (UA) def. Le Belicard (MSU) 6-3, 6-3; Carvalho (MSU) def. McRae (UA) 6-2, 6-3; Christian Brodersen (UA) def. Henou (MSU) 6-4, 6-3.
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)
