No. 21 Netmen Set To Host 2001 NCAA Finalist And Champion This Weekend
May 25, 2016 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State's 21st-ranked men's tennis team will begin a three-match homestand Friday, hosting 13th-ranked Tennessee in Southeastern Conference action. State will also welcome top-ranked Georgia Sunday at 1 p.m. Tennessee and Georgia were last year's NCAA runner-up and champion, respectively.
State, 8-6 overall and 2-4 in the SEC, is coming off two big 4-3 road wins in the conference. The Bulldogs followed a 4-3 victory at #37 Vanderbilt last Wednesday with an upset of No. 4 Kentucky in Lexington on Sunday by the same score. MSU is led by sophomore Romain Ambert, who is ranked 10th in the country in singles, and junior Rene-Charles Combette (75th). Ambert and Combette are No. 18 nationally together in doubles.
Tennessee is 11-4 overall, 4-2 in SEC play. The Vols, who most recent outing was a 6-0 win at Hawaii-Pacific Saturday, currently have four players ranked nationally, led by senior Peter Handoyo, who is eighth, and senior Mario Toledo (16th).
UT holds a 23-10 advantage over MSU in the series (since 1969). State has won seven of the last nine meetings between the teams, but the Vols have grabbed the last two clashes including a 6-1 win in Starkville last season. "Tennessee is obviously a very talented team," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "They were national finalists last year and have the bulk of their team back. They will be a big challenge for us.
"We have really done a good job of fighting and focusing in our last two matches, and never giving up, and we just have to continue doing those things. We proved in our last two matches that if we do those things, we can win any match we play."
As stated earlier, MSU stays at home Sunday to welcome No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Georgia at 1 p.m. The Bulldogs will then close out their homestand Tuesday by hosting a very talented and tough 33rd-ranked Middle Tennessee squad in a makeup contest at 2 p.m.
