Mississippi State
NCAA Individual Championships
Agarwal Punches Ticket To NCAA Round of 32 After Three-Set Win
May 25, 2016 | Men's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. – In his first-ever appearance in the NCAA Singles Championship, Mississippi State men's tennis junior Rishab Agarwal notched a three-set comeback victory Wednesday to advance to Thursday's NCAA Round of 32 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
The 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(1) win for the 54th-ranked Agarwal against North Florida's No. 109 Jack Findel-Hawkins will pit the junior against fourth-seeded and fourth-ranked Aleks Vukic of Illinois for a second-round showdown on Thursday at a time to be announced. TulsaHurricane.com will provide live stats and video of the match.
The day began with a slight delay as the Tulsa area was hit with rain in the early morning hours, which pushed Agarwal's match back almost an hour. Findel-Hawkins stormed out of the gate to take the opening set of the contest, 6-3, before Agarwal would bounce back with a 6-4 win in the second set.
In the third and deciding set, both Agarwal and Findel-Hawkins would hold serve, and the match would be in Findel-Hawkins' favor at 6-5 with Agarwal serving to stay in the match. At 30-40, Agarwal would stave off two match points to force the deciding tiebreaker. After building a quick 4-0 lead in the breaker, he would not look back, winning the tiebreaker 7-1.
"I am proud of how Rishab fought back and won today," head coach Matt Roberts said. "Rishab did a great job against Findel-Hawkins, who was a big server. It was like a chess match all day, because you only get a few opportunities to break an opponent like that. Rishab showed his mental endurance and handled the stressful moments well."
The win for Agarwal gave the Bulldog his 22nd win overall in 2015-16. The ranked win for the junior was his fifth of the season.
With the victory, Agarwal became the first Bulldog to advance past the first round of singles action since Malte Stropp in 2013.
Thursday's opponent, Vukic, earned his way to the second round after defeating Oklahoma State's No. 56 Julian Cash, 6-2, 6-4, in the opening round Wednesday. Agarwal is familiar with Vukic, as the two faced off at the Three Oaks Shootout in Fort Myers, Fla., back on Jan. 15. Agarwal won that contest 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 for his first win of the spring.
If Agarwal should defeat Vukic Thursday, he will earn ITA All-America status and become MSU's first All-American since Romain Bogaerts in 2013.
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