State To Begin Play In NCAA Tennis Championships Wednesday; Ambert Becomes All-American
May 25, 2016 | Men's Tennis
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Mississippi State's men's tennis contingent in the 2002 NCAA Individual Championships will begin play Wednesday as the 64-player NCAA Singles Championship gets underway at Texas A&M University. Competing for MSU in singles will be sophomore Romain Ambert, who is making his second career appearance in the field. Ambert and partner Ren?Ëť-Charles Combette, a late entry into the 32-team doubles draw, will begin competition Thursday.
Ranked eighth nationally and seeded seventh in the singles draw, Ambert will open competition at 1 p.m. CT Wednesday, taking on 49th-ranked Ryan Haviland of Stanford. The two players have never met.
As a top 16 seed in the tournament, Ambert earns all-America status for the season and becomes MSU's 17th men's tennis all-American. His No. 7 seeding also marks the fifth time in the last six years a Bulldog has been seeded in the top eight of the NCAA Singles Championship, joining Thomas Dupr?Ëť and Marco Baron who each earned the distinction twice in that period. The Toulouse, France, native has logged a very impressive 37-10 overall record in singles this season. Also a first-team, all-Southeastern Conference selection for the second year in a row, he started the 2002 dual match season a perfect 19-0 (10-0 singles, 9-0 doubles).
Ambert and Combette, ranked 30th nationally, were a late entry into the NCAA Doubles Championship field after a handful of other duos withdrew from the tournament. The Bulldog tandem, which has logged a 21-9 overall record this season, will meet the 15th-ranked team of Lester Cook and Ryan Newport of host Texas A&M Thursday afternoon. The two pairs have never met.
With the addition of Ambert and Combette in doubles, it marks the 12th time in the last 13 years that State has placed at least one singles player and one doubles team in the main draw of the NCAA Championships. Combette will be making his first career appearance in the NCAA Individual Championships.
