No. 18 MSU Pushes No. 13 UGA To The Brink In SEC Finals Defeat

Sunday, April 30

Knoxville, Tenn.

12:00 PM

Mississippi State

Georgia

MSU battles UGA to the end, but falls in SEC Championship title match.

No. 18 MSU Pushes No. 13 UGA To The Brink In SEC Finals Defeat

April 30, 2017 | Men's Tennis

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A tremendous effort from the 18th-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (20-8) fell short on Sunday as the Bulldogs came up just shy of capturing the Southeastern Conference Championship crown with a 4-3 loss to 13th-ranked Georgia (17-7).

With the 4-3 defeat, MSU falls to 20-8 overall while UGA improved to 17-7 on the season.

"These are the kind of moments that make you feel alive," head coach Matt Roberts said. "We live for these situations and love competition. Even though the final result didn't go our way, I'm proud of how hard we fought and didn't give Georgia anything easily."

The SEC finals appearance was MSU's fifth as a program and fourth against UGA. The Red & Black Bulldogs lead the head-to-head SEC title matches 4-1 all-time.

MSU started out strong in doubles action to begin Sunday's match as the duo of Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic took care of their UGA foes easily, 6-1. The Red & Black Bulldogs struck back however as UGA's Wayne Montgomery and Walker Duncan downed Mate Cutura and Vaughn Hunter, 6-3. All eyes would then turn to court one as the doubles point would be decided by the match's two ranked tandems.

No. 9 Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey stormed back from an early 3-1 deficit against No. 2 Robert Loeb and Jan Zielinski. Braun and Foshey battled back to upset Lobe and Zielinski as the MSU pair won 7-5 to give the Maroon & White the early 1-0 lead.

"Doubles was a big improvement today," Roberts said. "We played outstanding on all three courts and I'm proud of the fight Nic and Trevor showed to beat a very good doubles team. We knew today would be a battle, so we wanted to start the match off on a good note and we did just that."

UGA would bounce back nicely after dropping the doubles point as the Red & Black took four of the first six singles sets to flip the match's momentum. The two Bulldog squads traded a pair of courts soon after as UGA took a 6-2, 6-3 decision over Niclas Braun, before Simon Baudry gave MSU back the lead following a 6-2, 6-3 win on court six.

With MSU's lead at 2-1, UGA would even it up once again after Giovanni Oradini dropped a hard-fought, 6-3, 7-6(4) match to Duncan. The Red & Black would use that surge of energy to take court two as Mate Cutura lost a tough, three-setter to No. 31 Montgomery.

Now trailing for the first time during the match, the Maroon & White would rally back against the Red & Black. After dropping the opening set, No. 3 Borges stormed back to take back-to-back sets over No. 49 Nathan Ponwith, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to tie the match for the third time of the contest.

"We were feeling good at the end, we had a lot of confidence," Roberts said. "Nuno did an amazing job by coming back and picking up a great win. Strale was right there battling back, so we never were down about the situation. Our team always shows each other support until the very end and never gives up."

After falling in a tiebreaker in the opening frame, No. 111 Rakic was again in a fight on court three with No. 61 Emil Reinberg. The sophomore pushed back after falling behind early in the second set, as the match again fell into a tiebreaker. Despite showing tremendous grit and effort, Rakic couldn't overcome Reiberg as UGA took the tiebreaker 7-6(6) and with it the SEC crown.

"We're going to head home now with our heads up, because we played great this weekend," Roberts said. "We have to take this loss and learn from it, it's just one step in the process of improving and learning. Every match is another opportunity get better, and I believe we took advantage of that this weekend."

Up Next
MSU now awaits Tuesday's NCAA Men's Tennis Selection Show to determine where the Bulldogs will play this postseason. The show air on Tuesday, May 2 at 4 p.m. CT and can be seen here.

SEC All-Tournament Team

Alfredo Perez, Florida
Arthur Rinderknech, Texas A&M
Nuno Borges, Mississippi State
Giovanni Oradini, Mississippi State
Emil Reinberg (MVP), Georgia
Wayne Montgomery, Georgia

Additional Notes

State is now 27-27 all-time at the SEC Tournament
MSU has faced Georgia in four of its five SEC finals appearances
The Bulldogs defeated two top 20 foes at the SEC Tournament
State has defeated 10 ranked opponents this season
The Bulldogs are 6-3 this season in neutral matches
Head Coach Matt Roberts moved to 5-3 all-time in SEC Tourney action
No. 9 Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey have earned 10 ranked doubles wins this season
No. 3 Nuno Borges now has 21 ranked wins this season
Borges leads MSU with a 31-6 record in singles play
Borges earned his second SEC All-Tournament Team honor
Freshman Giovanni Oradini also claimed SEC All-Tournament honors after going 3-1 this weekend
Freshman Simon Baudry went 2-0 in singles action at the SEC Tournament

Social Media
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

No. 13 Georgia 4, No. 18 Mississippi State 3
SEC Championship – Finals
April 30, 2017 – Knoxville, Tenn. – Barksdale Stadium

Doubles

1. No. 9 Niclas Braun/Trevor Foshey (MSU) def. No. 2 Robert Loeb/Jan Zielinski (UGA) 7-5
2. Wayne Montgomery/Walker Duncan (UGA) def. Mate Cutura/Vaughn Hunter (MSU) 6-3
3. Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MSU) def. Paul Oosterbaan/Emil Reinberg (UGA) 6-1

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles

1. No. 3 Nuno Borges (MSU) def. No. 49 Nathan Ponwith (UGA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
2. No. 31 Wayne Montgomery (UGA) def. Mate Cutura (MSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
3. No. 61 Emil Reinberg (UGA) def. No. 111 Strahinja Rakic (MSU) 7-6(4), 7-6(6)*
4. Jan Zielinski (UGA) def. Niclas Braun (MSU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Walker Duncan (UGA) def. Giovanni Oradini (MSU) 6-3, 7-6(4)
6. Simon Baudry (MSU) def. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) 6-2, 6-3

Order of Finish: 4, 6, 5, 2, 1, 3
* - Match-clinching victory