No. 10 MSU Men’s Tennis Travels To The Plains To Take On Auburn

Saturday, March 16

Auburn, Ala.

12:00 PM

Mississippi State

Auburn

Mississippi State looks to extend its winning streak to three matches with a Noon CT match at Auburn on Saturday.

No. 10 MSU Men’s Tennis Travels To The Plains To Take On Auburn

March 15, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Live Video (Outdoors)Live Scoring 2018-19 Men's Tennis Stats (PDF)

by Caleb Garner, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – Fresh off the heels of a pair of top-30 wins, No. 10 Mississippi State is set to hit the road once again in Southeastern Conference play, traveling to Auburn for a midday match on Saturday.

The Bulldogs (12-3, 4-1 SEC) look to continue their strong start to league competition against the Tigers (11-11, 0-5). First serve at the Yarbrough Tennis Center is set for Noon CT.

MSU In The Oracle ITA Rankings …
The Bulldogs are currently ranked 10^th 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 102^nd 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: Auburn
Auburn is entering Saturday's contest after dropping a tough 4-3 decision at No. 43 Ole Miss on Thursday. Tiger Diego Chavarria is unblemished in singles this spring with a 5-0 ledger, while Tim Dollman holds a team-best nine dual match singles victories this season. In doubles, Brandon Laubser and Tad Maclean have won seven matches this season to lead the team.

Need To Know …

Mississippi State is playing its 95^th 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.
The Bulldogs hold a 29-21 lead in the series against Auburn since 1969 and have won 12 of the last 14 meetings, including five straight. In Auburn, State has won four in a row and five of its last six.
MSU has won 25 of its last 26 doubles points, including six in a row.
Nuno Borges is currently third all-time at MSU in career singles wins (104) and tied for second in total dual match wins (117), while ranking second in dual match singles triumphs (69).
Borges has won 14 straight singles matches and is undefeated in singles action in dual matches this season.
Niclas Braun is currently tied for second in career doubles wins (82) and tied for fourth in dual match doubles wins (52) at MSU.
Braun has won three straight match-clinchers for the Bulldogs.

Live Scoring/Video
Live video and live scoring will be available for MSU's match at Auburn. In the event of inclement weather forcing play indoors, live video will not be available.

Last Time Out For MSU …
On Thursday, MSU posted a 4-1 victory over No. 18 Alabama in Starkville. State got out to a quick 1-0 lead with wins on courts 1 and 2 in doubles before going up 2-0 about an hour later when the third-ranked Borges continued his winning ways with a straight-set victory on court 1 over 'Bama's 36^th-ranked Mazen Osama. The Crimson Tide earned what would be its lone point of the contest when Jeremy Gschwendtner downed Florian Broska 6-0, 6-3 on court 6, but the Bulldogs pulled ahead 3-1 with a 6-4, 6-4 win on court 2 by No. 102 Giovanni Oradini. On court 4, Niclas Braun clinched a third straight State victory with a straight-set triumph over Riccardo Roberto.

Next Up For MSU …
After taking on the Tigers, the Bulldogs return to the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre to host a pair of top-30 foes in another key SEC weekend. On Friday, State faces No. 22 Tennessee (3 p.m.) before taking on perennial SEC power No. 26 Georgia on Sunday (1 p.m.). Admission is free to both matches and all home MSU tennis matches during the regular season.

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