No. 2 Wake Forest First Up For MSU At ITA National Indoors

Friday, February 17

Charlottesville,Va.

11:00 AM

Mississippi State

Wake Forest

Bulldogs face No. 2 Wake Forest on Friday at 11 a.m. CT.

No. 2 Wake Forest First Up For MSU At ITA National Indoors

February 16, 2017 | Men's Tennis

Live Stats FloTennis.com ITA Indoors Draw ITA Indoors Draw

STARKVILLE, Miss. – For the 11th time in program history, the Mississippi State men's tennis team (4-1) will compete at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships as the Bulldogs travel to Charlottesville, Va., on Friday to take on second-seeded Wake Forest (6-0).

First serve between the Bulldogs and Demon Deacons is slated for 11 a.m. CT on Friday. The University of Virginia will serve as the event host, with all competition over the weekend scheduled to take place at Boar's Head Sports Club.

"Our guys are excited to play against some of the best competition in the country this weekend," head coach Matt Roberts said. "Going to the National Indoors has been one of our team's goals and we've accomplished that this year with a young and hungry group. We're not satisfied though and our team can't wait to get out on the court against Wake Forest tomorrow."

The Bulldogs advanced to the National Indoors after sweeping Florida State and Iowa in Lubbock, Texas a few weeks back, 4-3 and 4-1. MSU is slotted as a 15 seed at the tournament as the Bulldogs will go up against second-seeded Wake Forest in the opening round. The Demon Deacons downed Nebraska and Georgia State, 4-1 and 4-0, to reach the National Indoors.

MSU will look to a familiar lineup from the past weekend at the National Indoors as the Bulldogs will go with No. 44 Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey at the top of the doubles lineup with Mate Cutura and Giovanni Oradini swapping spots with Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic to round out the order.

In singles play, No. 3 Borges will again lead the pack while the rest of the order for MSU will be Cutura, Rakic, Oradini, Braun 2-5 with freshman Simon Baudry rounding out the lineup at the sixth position.

One notable change for the Bulldogs is freshman Oradini to the fourth spot in singles play as the lefty has been impressive in his first three outings for the Maroon and White. Oradini is undefeated in dual-matches in both singles (2-0) and doubles (2-0) play.

Who To Watch For Wake Forest
The Demon Deacons have one of the only two players in the country that rank ahead of MSU's third-ranked Borges, as Wake Forest's Petros Chrysochos owns the No. 1 ranking. The Demon Deacons have two more ranked players in singles with Skander Mansouri (No. 10) and Christian Seraphim (No. 26) also holding rankings. Borges has faced Mansouri twice this season as the two have split a couple of straight-set matches.

Up Next
Depending on the outcome of Friday's match, the Bulldogs could face Florida or Texas at 11 a.m. CT Saturday.

About the ITA National Team Indoor Championships
The ITA National Team Indoor Championship dates back to 1973, with the most recent winner being the North Carolina Tar Heels who defeated the host Cavaliers 4-2 last season. Teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament to determine a champion, while each team is guaranteed three matches at the event.

Live Stats
Point-by-point scoring for Friday's match can be found here.

Live Video
FloTennis will provide live streaming for all matches this weekend. FloTennis is a subscription-based service with monthly and annual rate options. To sign up and view the live stream, visit FloTennis.com.

Additional Notes

MSU is one of only three SEC schools to make the National Indoors (Florida and Georgia)
The National Indoor appearance is MSU's first since 2014
State's last opening round win at the National Indoors came in 1998 against Harvard
The Bulldogs are 4-1 all-time against Wake Forest, with MSU wining the last three meetings
The Bulldogs and Demon Deacons have not faced off since 2004
MSU has won four doubles points this season
Nuno Borges and Giovanni Oradini are MSU's only two players undefeated in dual-match singles play
Nuno Borges owns the team-lead in singles wins overall this season with his 16-3 record
Nuno Borges is undefeated for his career at the No. 1 spot for MSU at 6-0