Thursday, March 14
Starkville
5:00 PM
Mississippi State
vs
Alabama
No. 10 MSU is set to host No. 18 Alabama Thursday in a top-20 battle at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
No. 10 MSU To Host No. 18 Alabama Thursday In Top-20 Bout
March 13, 2019 | Men's Tennis
by Caleb Garner, Graduate Assistant/Communications
STARKVILLE – Looking to continue its tremendous 21-match home winning streak, the No. 10 Mississippi State men's tennis team is set to host No. 18 Alabama at 1 p.m. CT Thursday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
MSU (11-3, 3-1 SEC) takes on the Crimson Tide (12-4, 2-2) with hopes of extending its SEC home winning streak to 12 matches after sweeping Vanderbilt and Kentucky on opening weekend in Starkville. The original match time of 3 p.m. was moved up due to incoming weather and is subject to change.
The Bulldogs own a 34-24 series lead over UA since 1969 and have won the last eight meetings. Admission is free to Thursday's match and all home regular-season tennis matches at MSU.
MSU In The Oracle ITA Rankings …
The Bulldogs are currently ranked 10th nationally, marking the 18th straight edition of the rankings in which MSU has appeared in the top 25 and its 14th appearance in a row in the top 10. In the ITA national singles rankings, two-time All-American Nuno Borges leads three State players at No. 3 in the nation, while Giovanni Oradini comes in at 102nd nationally. State boasts a pair of ranked doubles tandems in third-ranked Braun and Giovanni Oradini and No. 7 Borges and Strahinja Rakic.
Know The Foe: Alabama …
Alabama enters Thursday's contest coming off a weekend where it split a pair of road matches by first falling 5-2 at No. 44 Kentucky and then coming back with a 5-2 win at No. 26 Vanderbilt. Mazen Osama, who reached the 2018 NCAA Singles Quarterfinals, is the lone ranked singles player for the Crimson Tide at No. 36 nationally. In doubles, Osama teams up with Patrick Kaukovalta to form the nation's 17th-ranked pair.
Need To Know …
Promotions …
Live Scoring/Video
Live video and scoring is available for all home Mississippi State men's tennis matches at hailstate.com/livemt.
Last Time Out For MSU…
On Monday, the Bulldogs closed out a 4-3 victory at No. 29 South Carolina in a match that originally began on Friday before rain in Columbia midway through singles play led to a decision to suspend the completion of the match until Monday with MSU up 1-0 after clinching doubles. Trevor Foshey earned a straight-set win at No. 5 singles to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 before the Gamecocks got on the board at 2-1 with a win on court 3. Nuno Borges then put State up 3-1 with an exciting three-set victory in a third-set tiebreaker with three courts left to finish, but USC knotted it up at 3-all with wins on courts 6 and 2 to set up an epic finish on court 4.
There, Niclas Braun was down 6-5 trying to break to force a match-clinching breaker. Braun then broke USC's Joseph Brailovsky to force the tiebreaker, taking a 6-2 lead early. The Gamecock battled back to win the next two points to cut Braun's advantage to 6-4. The Bulldog senior dug deep and fired a forehand winner to seal the victory and send MSU home with a 4-3 triumph.
Next Up For MSU …
After taking on the Crimson Tide, the Bulldogs head across the state line to Auburn, Alabama, to take on the Auburn Tigers at Noon CT on Saturday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
STARKVILLE – Looking to continue its tremendous 21-match home winning streak, the No. 10 Mississippi State men's tennis team is set to host No. 18 Alabama at 1 p.m. CT Thursday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
MSU (11-3, 3-1 SEC) takes on the Crimson Tide (12-4, 2-2) with hopes of extending its SEC home winning streak to 12 matches after sweeping Vanderbilt and Kentucky on opening weekend in Starkville. The original match time of 3 p.m. was moved up due to incoming weather and is subject to change.
The Bulldogs own a 34-24 series lead over UA since 1969 and have won the last eight meetings. Admission is free to Thursday's match and all home regular-season tennis matches at MSU.
MSU In The Oracle ITA Rankings …
The Bulldogs are currently ranked 10th nationally, marking the 18th straight edition of the rankings in which MSU has appeared in the top 25 and its 14th appearance in a row in the top 10. In the ITA national singles rankings, two-time All-American Nuno Borges leads three State players at No. 3 in the nation, while Giovanni Oradini comes in at 102nd nationally. State boasts a pair of ranked doubles tandems in third-ranked Braun and Giovanni Oradini and No. 7 Borges and Strahinja Rakic.
Know The Foe: Alabama …
Alabama enters Thursday's contest coming off a weekend where it split a pair of road matches by first falling 5-2 at No. 44 Kentucky and then coming back with a 5-2 win at No. 26 Vanderbilt. Mazen Osama, who reached the 2018 NCAA Singles Quarterfinals, is the lone ranked singles player for the Crimson Tide at No. 36 nationally. In doubles, Osama teams up with Patrick Kaukovalta to form the nation's 17th-ranked pair.
Need To Know …
- Mississippi State is playing its 95th season of men's tennis, with Matt Roberts in his fifth season at the helm.
- MSU's No. 10 national ranking marks the 18th straight week the Bulldogs appeared in the top 25 of the Oracle ITA Rankings and its 14th straight appearance in the top 10.
- State is riding a 21-match home winning streak, with 11 of those victories coming in SEC play.
- The Bulldogs hold a 34-24 lead in the series against MSU since 1969 and have won eight in a row, including the last four in Starkville.
- Nuno Borges is currently tied for third all-time at MSU in career singles wins (103) and third in total dual match wins (115), while ranking second in dual match singles triumph (68) and tied for ninth in total victories (162).
- Borges and Strahinja Rakic team up to form MSU's all-time winningest doubles pair (48), while Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini are fourth with 39 wins.
- Braun is currently tied for third in career doubles wins (81) and sixth in dual match doubles wins (51) at MSU.
Promotions …
- Youth Day
- Tennis Ball Toss For A TV between doubles and singles
- Free match day guides
- FREE Admission
Live Scoring/Video
Live video and scoring is available for all home Mississippi State men's tennis matches at hailstate.com/livemt.
Last Time Out For MSU…
On Monday, the Bulldogs closed out a 4-3 victory at No. 29 South Carolina in a match that originally began on Friday before rain in Columbia midway through singles play led to a decision to suspend the completion of the match until Monday with MSU up 1-0 after clinching doubles. Trevor Foshey earned a straight-set win at No. 5 singles to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 before the Gamecocks got on the board at 2-1 with a win on court 3. Nuno Borges then put State up 3-1 with an exciting three-set victory in a third-set tiebreaker with three courts left to finish, but USC knotted it up at 3-all with wins on courts 6 and 2 to set up an epic finish on court 4.
There, Niclas Braun was down 6-5 trying to break to force a match-clinching breaker. Braun then broke USC's Joseph Brailovsky to force the tiebreaker, taking a 6-2 lead early. The Gamecock battled back to win the next two points to cut Braun's advantage to 6-4. The Bulldog senior dug deep and fired a forehand winner to seal the victory and send MSU home with a 4-3 triumph.
Next Up For MSU …
After taking on the Crimson Tide, the Bulldogs head across the state line to Auburn, Alabama, to take on the Auburn Tigers at Noon CT on Saturday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Players Mentioned
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