No. 10 Bulldogs Set For SEC Road Opener At No. 29 South Carolina Friday

Friday, March 8

Columbia, S.C.

12:30 PM

Mississippi State

South Carolina

No. 10 Mississippi State is set to take on No. 29 South Carolina in Columbia at 12:30 CT on Friday.

No. 10 Bulldogs Set For SEC Road Opener At No. 29 South Carolina Friday

March 07, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Live Video Live Scoring

by Caleb Garner, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE – After posting a pair of sweeps to open up SEC play, the No. 10 Mississippi State men's tennis team is set for its first conference road test of the season, traveling to Columbia, South Carolina, to face No. 29 South Carolina.

The Bulldogs (10-2, 2-0 SEC) are slated to face the Gamecocks (10-2, 0-1) at 12:30 p.m. CT on Friday at the Carolina Tennis Center.

MSU In The Oracle ITA Rankings …
The Bulldogs are currently ranked 10^th nationally, marking the 17th straight edition of the rankings in which MSU has appeared in the top 25 and its 13th 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: South Carolina
South Carolina enters Friday's match having won eight of its last nine affairs, the only setback coming in a 5-2 decision at Arkansas on March 1 in its SEC lidlifter. Like MSU, the Gamecocks tout a pair of ranked singles players in 12^th-ranked Paul Jubb and No. 88 Daniel Rodrigues.

Last season, the Bulldogs knocked off USC 4-1 at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre to earn their fifth consecutive victory after enduring a combined hour and 32 minutes of rain delays. Giovanni Oradini was instrumental in the triumph, winning doubles alongside Niclas Braun and capturing the match-clinching singles triumph against Jubb on court 2 en route to earning SEC Player of the Week honors the following Wednesday.

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 17th straight week the Bulldogs appeared in the top 25 of the Oracle ITA Rankings and its 13th straight appearance in the top 10.
The Bulldogs hold a 20-11 series lead against South Carolina, having won two meetings in a row and eight of the last nine.
Nuno Borges is currently fourth all-time at MSU in career singles wins (101) and third in total dual match wins (112), while being tied for second in dual match singles triumphs (66).
Borges and Strahinja Rakic are tied for first all-time in career wins by a doubles pair (47), while Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini are tied for fourth (37).
Niclas Braun is currently sixth in career doubles wins (79) and tied for sixth in dual match doubles wins (49) at MSU.

Live Scoring/Video
Live video and live scoring will be available for MSU's match at South Carolina.

Last Time Out For MSU …
MSU is coming off a pair of 7-0 sweeps to open up SEC play, doing so against No. 27 Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Most recently, the Bulldogs put on a dominant performance against the Wildcats, taking the match in approximately two hours and without dropping a set in the match. Against the Wildcats, State took a 1-0 lead and never looked back, with Niclas Braun earning the match-clincher.

Next Up For MSU …
After taking on the Gamecocks, the Bulldogs head south to Gainesville, Florida, to take on No. 9 Florida in a marquee top-10 battle Sunday. First serve against the Gators is set for Noon CT at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Center, the host site of the 2019 SEC Championship.

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