Friday, April 13
College Station, Texas
6:00 PM
Mississippi State
at
Texas A&M
Mississippi State's match at No. 7 Texas A&M Friday night features the SEC's only two teams undefeated in league play.
SEC Lead On the Line As No. 7 Bulldogs Battle No. 5 Texas A&M Friday
April 12, 2018 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE, Miss. – One of the top matchups in college tennis this weekend will involve a pair of teams donning maroon and white, as the seventh-ranked Mississippi State men's tennis team (16-1, 10-0 SEC) travels to face fifth-ranked Texas A&M (18-4, 10-0) in a battle of the Southeastern Conference's unbeatens on Friday night.
Match time is set for 6 p.m. at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. The Bulldogs and Aggies are tied atop the league standings with just two regular season matches remaining. Friday's match is just one of two matches in the country this weekend featuring two top 10 teams.
"This is what it's all about—two undefeated teams in the SEC battling it out Friday night," fourth-year head coach Matt Roberts said. "This is a great opportunity for us and I'm very proud of the way our team has competed to get to this point. We are ready for a tough match and an adverse environment. Texas A&M is well-coached and has been at the top of the SEC consistently, so we are excited for this challenge."
The Bulldogs are looking to improve on their record start to the 2018 season, with their 16-1 overall ledger being the program's best since 1979 and their 10-0 start in league play being the best in program history. MSU has won 12 consecutive matches entering the weekend.
Last Time Out For MSU…
The last time the Bulldogs took the court, they kept rolling with a dominant 5-2 victory at No. 35 rival Ole Miss, winning for the seventh time in the last 11 meetings against the Rebels. State once again was stellar in doubles, taking the point with wins on courts 1 and 2 almost simultaneously. On court 1, State's 46th-ranked Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic notched a 6-2 win against No. 56 Grey Hamilton and Tim Sandkaulen. Court 2 saw the 42nd-ranked Bulldog tandem of Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini down Ole Miss' Zvonimir Babic and Filip Kraljevic by a 6-1 mark. Florian Broska and Trevor Foshey trailed 5-1 to Fabian Fallert and Finn Reynolds on court 3 at the clincher.
Ole Miss knotted things up at 1-all with a 6-2, 6-3 singles win on court 6 by Reynolds against MSU rookie Arvid Nordquist. State reclaimed the lead for good when fourth-ranked Nuno Borges topped 30th-ranked Rebel Sandkaulen 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1. Broska made it 3-1 MSU when he downed Babic by a 6-3, 6-2 mark on court 5. Once again, MSU's clincher came by way of Oradini, as the 23rd-ranked sophomore defeated UM's Fallert 6-3, 6-1 to seal the deal for the Bulldogs. The 83rd-ranked Rakic then made it 5-1 MSU with a 5-7, 6-2, 1-0(2) win on court 3 against Kraljevic. To close out the day, UM's Hamilton picked up the Rebels' second point of the day by winning a tight 7-6(2), 7-5 decision against Braun on court 4.
MSU In The ITA Rankings…
In this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association team rankings, MSU remained at No. 7 nationally—its highest rank since 1999 when the Bulldogs started the season at No. 3. Five Bulldogs made the cut in the most recent singles and doubles rankings released April 10. In singles, the All-American Borges rose to third in the nation, where he is the highest-ranked player in the SEC. Oradini is ranked 19th nationally, while Rakic moved up to No. 78 in the country. In doubles, three Bulldog duos highlight the rankings, led by Borges and Rakic at the pair's career-best No. 42. Two spots behind is the dynamic duo of Braun and Oradini at No. 44, still unbeaten on the season. Braun and Foshey round out the list at No. 90.
About Texas A&M…
Texas A&M enters Friday's match having won six in a row and 11 of its last 12, with the only loss coming to then-11th-ranked TCU on March 20. The Aggies boast five ranked singles players—three in the top 50. Freshman Patrick Kypson leads the charge at No. 6 nationally, playing at the No. 1 spot. Arthur Rinderknech is ranked 10th in the country, while reigning SEC Co-Player of the Week Jordi Arconada is ranked No. 41. Valentin Vacherot is ranked 52nd, while freshman Juan Carlos Aguilar is currently ranked 105th. Aguilar was tabbed the league's Freshman of the Week on Wednesday.
In doubles, the Aggies bring four ranked doubles pairs to the table, led by Aguilar and Arconada at No. 8 in the country. Kypson and Rinderknech team up to form the nation's 48th-best tandem, while Arconada pairs up with Kevin Lam as the nation's 57th-ranked duo. To round out the ranked Aggies, Vacherot and A.J. Catanzariti are ranked 89th nationally as a pair.
What To Note As MSU Faces Texas A&M…
Live Stats/Video
Live video and statistics for Friday's match can be found at 12thman.com.
Next Up For MSU…
To close out the regular season, MSU will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on LSU (8-14, 1-9 SEC) at Noon on Sunday. After that, the Bulldogs will prepare for the 2018 SEC Championship, to be held April 25-29 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Match time is set for 6 p.m. at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station. The Bulldogs and Aggies are tied atop the league standings with just two regular season matches remaining. Friday's match is just one of two matches in the country this weekend featuring two top 10 teams.
"This is what it's all about—two undefeated teams in the SEC battling it out Friday night," fourth-year head coach Matt Roberts said. "This is a great opportunity for us and I'm very proud of the way our team has competed to get to this point. We are ready for a tough match and an adverse environment. Texas A&M is well-coached and has been at the top of the SEC consistently, so we are excited for this challenge."
The Bulldogs are looking to improve on their record start to the 2018 season, with their 16-1 overall ledger being the program's best since 1979 and their 10-0 start in league play being the best in program history. MSU has won 12 consecutive matches entering the weekend.
Last Time Out For MSU…
The last time the Bulldogs took the court, they kept rolling with a dominant 5-2 victory at No. 35 rival Ole Miss, winning for the seventh time in the last 11 meetings against the Rebels. State once again was stellar in doubles, taking the point with wins on courts 1 and 2 almost simultaneously. On court 1, State's 46th-ranked Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic notched a 6-2 win against No. 56 Grey Hamilton and Tim Sandkaulen. Court 2 saw the 42nd-ranked Bulldog tandem of Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini down Ole Miss' Zvonimir Babic and Filip Kraljevic by a 6-1 mark. Florian Broska and Trevor Foshey trailed 5-1 to Fabian Fallert and Finn Reynolds on court 3 at the clincher.
Ole Miss knotted things up at 1-all with a 6-2, 6-3 singles win on court 6 by Reynolds against MSU rookie Arvid Nordquist. State reclaimed the lead for good when fourth-ranked Nuno Borges topped 30th-ranked Rebel Sandkaulen 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1. Broska made it 3-1 MSU when he downed Babic by a 6-3, 6-2 mark on court 5. Once again, MSU's clincher came by way of Oradini, as the 23rd-ranked sophomore defeated UM's Fallert 6-3, 6-1 to seal the deal for the Bulldogs. The 83rd-ranked Rakic then made it 5-1 MSU with a 5-7, 6-2, 1-0(2) win on court 3 against Kraljevic. To close out the day, UM's Hamilton picked up the Rebels' second point of the day by winning a tight 7-6(2), 7-5 decision against Braun on court 4.
MSU In The ITA Rankings…
In this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association team rankings, MSU remained at No. 7 nationally—its highest rank since 1999 when the Bulldogs started the season at No. 3. Five Bulldogs made the cut in the most recent singles and doubles rankings released April 10. In singles, the All-American Borges rose to third in the nation, where he is the highest-ranked player in the SEC. Oradini is ranked 19th nationally, while Rakic moved up to No. 78 in the country. In doubles, three Bulldog duos highlight the rankings, led by Borges and Rakic at the pair's career-best No. 42. Two spots behind is the dynamic duo of Braun and Oradini at No. 44, still unbeaten on the season. Braun and Foshey round out the list at No. 90.
About Texas A&M…
Texas A&M enters Friday's match having won six in a row and 11 of its last 12, with the only loss coming to then-11th-ranked TCU on March 20. The Aggies boast five ranked singles players—three in the top 50. Freshman Patrick Kypson leads the charge at No. 6 nationally, playing at the No. 1 spot. Arthur Rinderknech is ranked 10th in the country, while reigning SEC Co-Player of the Week Jordi Arconada is ranked No. 41. Valentin Vacherot is ranked 52nd, while freshman Juan Carlos Aguilar is currently ranked 105th. Aguilar was tabbed the league's Freshman of the Week on Wednesday.
In doubles, the Aggies bring four ranked doubles pairs to the table, led by Aguilar and Arconada at No. 8 in the country. Kypson and Rinderknech team up to form the nation's 48th-best tandem, while Arconada pairs up with Kevin Lam as the nation's 57th-ranked duo. To round out the ranked Aggies, Vacherot and A.J. Catanzariti are ranked 89th nationally as a pair.
What To Note As MSU Faces Texas A&M…
- MSU is in its 94th season of tennis, with Matt Roberts in his fourth season at the helm.
- On Sunday at Ole Miss, Roberts earned his 75thcareer win as head coach—all at MSU.
- In the series against Texas A&M since 1998, the Aggies hold a 7-4 lead, but MSU has won the last two meetings.
- In 2017, the Bulldogs and Aggies met twice with State coming out on top in identical 4-3 decisions. The first match was in Starkville, where State clinched 4-1 before A&M took the remaining two singles courts. About three weeks later, the squads met again in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament in Knoxville, Tenn., with MSU rallying from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3.
- Against ranked foes under Roberts, MSU is 45-26. Against ranked opponents this season, the Bulldogs are 10-1.
- When the Bulldogs have won doubles in 2018, they are 11-1 and have won 11 of the last 13 doubles points.
- At the No. 2 position in doubles MSU is a perfect 15-0.
- Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini have won 11 consecutive matches in doubles—all in dual match play—and 12 of their last 13 matches.
- Strahinja Rakic has won six matches in a row and seven of his last eight.
- Florian Broska has won five straight singles matches.
Live Stats/Video
Live video and statistics for Friday's match can be found at 12thman.com.
Next Up For MSU…
To close out the regular season, MSU will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on LSU (8-14, 1-9 SEC) at Noon on Sunday. After that, the Bulldogs will prepare for the 2018 SEC Championship, to be held April 25-29 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
Men's Tennis | Matt Roberts Michigan State Presser
Saturday, May 03
Men's Tennis | Matt Roberts & Niccolo Baroni
Friday, May 02
Men's Tennis | Matt Roberts - NCAA Selection Show
Monday, April 28
Mississippi State Men's Tennis vs. Arkansas Recap - 04/07/21
Thursday, April 08