No. 36 State Women’s Tennis Set To Welcome No. 39 South Carolina Thursday At 11 a.m.

STARKVILLE – After enjoying a week off, the Mississippi State women's tennis team (10-6, 2-6 SEC) is set to open a five-match homestand Thursday as it hosts South Carolina (6-9, 3-5 SEC). Due to weather concerns, match time between the 36th-ranked Bulldogs and 39th-ranked Gamecocks has been moved up to 11 a.m. CT Thursday morning.

Current MSU Tennis COVID Attendance Protocols

A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre (Outdoor) - Under current COVID protocols, fans may attend MSU home matches at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre, with seating allowed in designated areas only. Continuing MSU and SEC COVID protocols, face coverings over the nose and mouth shall be required as a condition of all guest during ingress, egress, and movement throughout the stadium, as well as any time guests are unable to maintain the recommended physical distance from others who are not in their same household or when actively eating or drinking.

Rula Tennis Pavilion (Indoor) - Under current COVID protocols, if a match starts or is moved indoors to the Rula Tennis Pavilion due to weather, a very limited number of fans will be allowed to attend.
For all COVID/attendance protocols for 2021 MSU Tennis home matches, please visit www.hailstate.com/gameday.

Live Video/Scoring
Live video and live scoring will be available for Thursday's match and all MSU home matches at www.hailstate.com/livewt.

Bulldog Notes
State is ranked 36^th nationally in this week's latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association national poll. Two Bulldogs are ranked nationally in singles – No. 19 Emma Antonaki and No. 61 Magda Adaloglou. Antonaki's ranking this week is the highest of her MSU career while Adaloglou's is her second-highest. In doubles, Adaloglou and Tamara Racine are No. 18 in the country this week, their second-highest ranking ever as a pair.

MSU owns a 25-16 record in doubles dual match play overall this season as well as an impressive 56-25 mark in singles, with Antonaki and Adaloglou pacing the team. Antonaki owns an 11-2 dual match singles mark, while Adaloglou is 10-2 and has claimed her last eight singles decisions. Adaloglou and Antonaki have each claimed 18 of their last 20 singles outings, dating back to last season.

True freshman Chloé Cirotte has been stellar in her first semester in the Maroon and White, going 9-3 in dual match competition. Racine (6-5), Alex Mikhailuk (8-7) and Marta Falceto (5-1) also own winning records in dual match play thus far this spring. Senior transfer Lilian Poling has notched five victories in team action for State as well.

Know The Foe
South Carolina enters Thursday's match with a 6-9 record, 3-5 in the SEC. The Gamecocks will come to Starkville having claimed their last two matches – home victories over No. 22 Arkansas (4-0) and Missouri (4-1) two weeks ago.

USC is led in the national rankings by Mia Horvit, who is 85^th nationally in this week's latest poll. Horvit teams with Megan Davies to form the nation's 15^th-ranked doubles tandem.

South Carolina leads the series with MSU by a 30-2 margin and has claimed the last four meetings between the two programs. The last time the two teams faced each other was in 2019, when the Gamecocks came away with a 4-1 decision in Columbia.

Last Time Out
After dropping a close doubles point and falling behind 3-1 in the match, the Bulldogs stormed back to claim an exciting 4-3 victory over No. 48 Alabama in Tuscaloosa on March 13.

Next Up For MSU
Following Thursday's match against South Carolina, the Bulldogs will prepare to host No. 24 Florida this Saturday, March 27, at 12 p.m. CT.

For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis team, visit HailState.com and follow "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

No. 36 State Women’s Tennis Set To Welcome No. 39 South Carolina Thursday At 11 a.m.

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Players Mentioned

Magda Adaloglou

Emmanouela Antonaki

Chloé Cirotte

Marta Falceto

Lilian Poling

Tamara Racine

Mississippi State University Athletics