No. 15 MSU Caps Road Swing At Arkansas Thursday

Thursday, March 23

Fayetteville, Ark.

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

Arkansas

The road slate continues this Thursday against Arkansas.

No. 15 MSU Caps Road Swing At Arkansas Thursday

March 22, 2017 | Men's Tennis

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Looking to continue its nine-match winning streak, the 15th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (13-3, 4-0 SEC) hits the road this Thursday as the Bulldogs travel to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks (10-8, 2-3 SEC) at 6 p.m. CT.

The match will cap MSU's three-match road swing as the Bulldogs return home on Saturday to face No. 49 Ole Miss at 3 p.m. CT. Thursday's contest will be the first match for the Razorbacks at their newly renovated Billingsley Tennis Center.

"Our guys are excited to get back out on the court tomorrow and compete," head coach Matt Roberts said. "Arkansas is always a tough place to play, but our guys really love the challenge of playing on the road. We've had a great week of practice and Thursday will be another opportunity to get better."

Last time out, the Bulldogs earned back-to-back ranked wins on the road as MSU defeated No. 17 Kentucky and No. 34 Vanderbilt. In the two victories, the Maroon and White earned eight singles wins in the pair of matches to overpower the Wildcats and Commodores.

Pivotal in singles action was the play of Giovanni Oradini, who earned two impressive wins to claim this week's SEC Freshman of the Week honor. Oradini took back-to-back tiebreakers against his Vanderbilt foe, before clinching MSU's win against UK in a three-set battle.

This Thursday the Bulldogs will go with a familiar singles lineup of No. 8 Nuno Borges, No. 110 Strahinja Rakic, Mate Cutura, Oradini, Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey. In doubles play State will use the 31st-ranked duo of Braun and Foshey at the No. 1 spot, Cutura and Vaughn Hunter at No. 2 and the newly formed tandem of Borges and Oradini rounding out the order at the No. 3 position.

Previewing The Razorbacks
Arkansas is 6-5 at home this season, with the Razorbacks winning their last two contests against Omaha by a 5-0 margin in both outings. Against common opponents, the Razorbacks and Bulldogs defeated Alabama by the same score, 5-2.

Who To Watch For Arkansas
Mike Redlicki and Jose Salazar are both ranked for the Hogs, with the pair coming in at No. 10 and No. 26 respectively this past week. Redlicki and Salazar are also ranked in doubles action at No. 37 overall.

Up Next
After taking on the Razorbacks, the Bulldogs will return home to face No. 49 Ole Miss on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. The in-state showdown will kickoff a five-match homestand that includes contests against Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M and LSU.

Live Video/Stats
No live video will be available for Thursday's match, but Arkansas will provide live stats which can be found here.

Additional Notes

MSU leads Arkansas 27-7 in the all-time head-to-head series
The Bulldogs have won the last eight matches against the Razorbacks
MSU won last year's contest 4-3 in Fayetteville
State has not lost in Fayetteville since 1990
The Bulldogs are 6-0 in the month of March this season
Head Coach Matt Roberts is 2-0 all-time against his alma mater
Head Coach Matt Roberts is 4-0 all-time against UK
Niclas Braun is currently on an eight-match winning streak for the Bulldogs in singles play
Giovanni Oradini is also on a win streak in singles action, having won his last six matches
The freshman Oradini is undefeated in singles road matches this season at 5-0
Nuno Borges, Braun and Oradini all have 10 wins in dual-match singles play