Bulldogs Travel To Lubbock For ITA Kick-Off Weekend

Saturday, January 28

Lubbock, Texas

12:00 PM

Mississippi State

Florida State

No. 20 MSU heads to Lubbock, Texas for 2017 ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

Bulldogs Travel To Lubbock For ITA Kick-Off Weekend

January 27, 2017 | Men's Tennis

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The 20th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (1-0) prepares for a tough slate of matches this weekend as the Bulldogs travel to Lubbock, Texas for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

MSU faces ACC foe Florida State (5-1) in the opening match on Saturday at 12 p.m. CT, while host Texas Tech (2-1) takes on Iowa (2-0) at the McLeod Tennis Center also at noon. The winners will compete on Sunday at noon for the right to advance to next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championships, while the losers will have a consolation match also slated for noon in Lubbock.

"We're excited to be facing great competition this weekend in Lubbock," head coach Matt Roberts said. "We've been looking forward to this trip ever since it was announced last year and our guys are ready to compete. Our team has had a great week of training, so we feel good coming into this weekend."

Despite having the first match of the season against Pepperdine cancelled due to inclement weather, the Bulldogs responded with a 5-2 win at San Diego State the following day to officially kickoff the 2017 season.

In the victory over the Aztecs, the Maroon and White flexed their muscles in doubles play after resounding 6-0, 6-2 wins from the tandems of Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic, along with Mate Cutura and Vaughn Hunter. The Bulldogs rode the momentum into singles action as MSU received wins from Borges, Rakic, Niclas Braun and Simon Baudry to earn the 5-2 season-opening victory.

This Saturday, the Bulldogs will go with the same doubles lineup against the Seminoles as MSU features Cutura/Hunter (1-0), No. 59 Braun/Foshey (0-0) and Borges/Rakic (1-0). In singles action, MSU sends the same 1-4 of No. 6 Borges (1-0), Cutura (0-1), Rakic (1-0) and Braun (1-0), while inserting freshman Giovanni Oradini (0-0) at the fifth position and sliding Baudry (1-0) to No. 6 in the order.

FSU has sprinted out to begin their season as the Seminoles have blanked four of their six opponents. The Dwayne Hultquist-coached squad has defeated Louisiana Lafayette (4-0), South Alabama (4-3), Florida Gulf Coast (7-0), Florida A&M (4-0) and Georgia Southern (7-0), while only surrendering one match against Georgia State (4-3). All six matches for the Seminoles have been in Tallahassee, Fla.

Up Next
If the Bulldogs should win on Saturday, MSU will face the winner of Texas Tech and Iowa on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT from the McLeod Tennis Center.

Live Stats
Live statistics will only be available if the Bulldogs face Texas Tech on Sunday.

About the ITA Kick-Off Weekend
This year marks this ninth annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend, as 60 teams compete at 15 regional sites. The final 2016 ITA Team Rankings determined host sites for the weekend, while a draft was held to fill the 2-4 seeds at all locations using the final national team guide to determine the draft order. The winners of the single-elimination event advance to next month's ITA National Team Indoor Championships, hosted by the University of Virginia on Feb. 17-19.

Additional Notes

The Bulldogs are 8-9 all-time at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, having taken part in the event every year except for 2010
MSU is 9-6 all-time against Florida State, with the Seminoles winning last year's matchup in Tampa, Fla., 4-1
State had defeated FSU six-consecutive times before 2016's loss
Head coach Matt Roberts is one win away from 40 career victories at MSU
A win on Saturday would make Roberts the third-fastest coach to reach 40 career wins at MSU after doing so in only 57 matches
After Niclas Braun's singles victory last Saturday, the Bulldogs now have three players with at least 30 career singles wins on the roster (Nuno Borges & Mate Cutura)

Social Media
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program and live updates during this weekend's matches, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.