Bulldog Netters' Season Ends With NCAA Second-Round Loss At No. 13 Auburn
May 25, 2016 | Men's Tennis
State, which ended the year at 11-12 overall, was making its 12th consecutive NCAA Team Championship appearance. Auburn, which improved to 19-7, advanced to next week's round of 16 which will be held May 18-21 in College Station, Texas. The Bulldogs missed the round of 16 for only the second time in their 12 NCAA appearances.
The Tigers gained the opening point of the day with wins at the top two doubles positions after State had won 8-5 at No. 3. After AU's 27th-ranked duo of Andrew Colombo and Mark Kovacs held off a rally charge from Bulldogs Max Fomine and Aymeric Henou 8-6 at No. 2, 13th-ranked Tigers Rameez Junaid and Tiago Ruffoni won the last three games of the set at No. 1 to down 30th-ranked Bulldogs Romain Ambert and Rene-Charles Combette 8-5.
Dropping the doubles seemed to make a big difference in the match for both sides, as Auburn would win the first three singles matches complete to post the team victory.
AU went up 2-0 when the senior Kovacs posted a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of State's Luiz Carvalho at the No. 4 singles position. The Tigers gained a 3-0 advantage with a 6-3, 6-4 victory from Colombo, ranked 60th nationally, over Combette, ranked 94th, at the No. 2 spot.
The clinching point would come at the No. 1 position, where Junaid, ranked 21st, upset MSU's eighth-ranked Ambert 6-1, 7-5. It was only the fourth dual match singles loss for the MSU sophomore all season (18-4).
In the matches that remained when play was suspended, State was down a set at the No. 3 position, but held one-set leads at the bottom two spots in the lineup.
"Auburn just outplayed us today," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "I think we lost some confidence after we lost the doubles because that point could have gone either way. That, combined with Auburn just playing a solid match, were the differences today. Certainly, we are disappointed that our season ended, but we reached the second round of the NCAA Championship and that's something that a lot of teams would like to be able to say.
"I hate this was the last match for our senior, David Ruiz, who has had some great moments for us, including winning for us yesterday and being in position again today after coming back from back surgery just a few weeks ago. He will be missed in the future. The positive thing is that we will have everyone else back from this team and that is very encouraging as we begin to think about next year."
Though MSU's team season ended Sunday, State's tennis program is not completely done with competition this year. Ambert, now 37-10 overall in singles this season, will compete in the 64-player NCAA Singles Championship (May 22-27) following the NCAA Team Championship at Texas A&M.
#13 AUBURN 4, #28 MISSISSIPPI STATE 0
DOUBLES -- #13 Rameez Junaid/Tiago Ruffoni (AU) def. #30 Romain Ambert/Rene-Charles Combette (MSU) 8-5; #27 Andrew Colombo/Mark Kovacs (AU) def. Max Fomine/Aymeric Henou (MSU) 8-6; Luiz Carvalho/Jerome Le Belicard (MSU) def. Andre Boz/Estevam Strecker (AU) 8-5.
SINGLES -- #21 Junaid (AU) def. #8 Ambert (MSU) 6-1, 7-5; #60 Colombo (AU) def. #94 Combette (MSU) 6-3, 6-4; Le Belicard (MSU) vs. #50 Ruffoni (AU) - 4-6, 2-3, susp.; Kovacs (AU) def. Carvalho (MSU) 6-0, 6-0; David Ruiz (MSU) vs. Estevam Strecker (AU) - 7-6(3), 2-2, susp.; Henou (MSU) vs. Boz (AU) 6-3, 3-4, susp.
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)
