Mississippi State
Florida
No. 17 Bulldogs Drop Emotional 4-2 Battle To No. 1 Florida In SEC Championship Quarterfinals
April 21, 2021 | Men's Tennis
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With a huge opportunity on the table, the 17th-ranked and ninth-seeded Mississippi State men's tennis team gave everything it had in a 4-2 setback to the No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Florida Gators at Arkansas' George M. Billingsley Tennis Center Wednesday evening in the quarterfinals of the 2021 SEC Championship.
With Wednesday's setback, State fell to 16-9 overall this season while Florida improved to 19-1, claiming its 16th consecutive victory.
The Bulldogs would battle right from the first point, fighting valiantly to win the doubles point to start the match, with all three contests decided by tight 6-4 scores. Court 3 would finish first, where the UF duo of Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton edged MSU's Nicolas Ocana and Giovanni Oradini. Then, the 26th-ranked MSU duo of Florian Broska and Gregor Ramskogler ousted the No. 25 Gator tandem of Will Grant and Johannes Ingildsen at the top spot in the lineup. With the opening point on the line, State's pair of Nemanja Malesevic and Nicolas Ocana broke Florida's pair of Josh Goodger and Duarte Vale in the last game of their match to put State up 1-0 early.
Florida responded by taking the first set in five of the six singles affairs, but the Bulldogs would push three of those five to third sets to give themselves an excellent chance at the upset of the league champion Gators.
UF claimed the first two matches to finish in straight sets for a 2-1 advantage. The Gators evened the score at 1-1 with a triumph on court 5, where Shelton downed MSU's Carles Hernandez by a 6-2, 6-2 margin. Giving Florida its first lead of the match was the 104th-rnaked Goodger who ousted MSU's 77th-ranked Davide Tortora 6-4, 7-5 at the No. 6 position.
The remaining four courts would all enter third sets with the match hanging very much in the balance.
Pushing Florida's lead to 3-1 was court 4, where 56th-ranked Blaise Bicknell downed MSU's Alberto Colas in a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 decision.
MSU then got its lone singles victory when the 30th-ranked senior Oradini recorded the highest ranked victory of his Bulldog career, upsetting the No. 3-ranked Vale in a tough 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 battle at the No. 1 spot in the lineup.
Moments later, the Gators got the clinching point at the No. 2 position, where UF's sixth-ranked Riffice held off a stern upset bid from MSU's 48th-ranked Broska in a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 heartbreaker.
The final match was then suspended. At the No. 3 position, MSU's 54th-ranked Malesevic had just broken back in the third set and was even at 4-6, 6-2, 4-4 versus Florida's 14th-ranked Andy Andrade.
Next up…
The Bulldogs will learn their postseason destiny on May 3 when selections for the 2021 NCAA Team Championship are announced. State expects to earn an NCAA bid for the 10th consecutive season in which the tournament has been held (there was no postseason competition in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). MSU men's tennis has made 28 NCAA appearances all-time, entering the 2021 campaign.
No. 1 Florida 4, No. 17 Mississippi State 2
2021 SEC Championship – Quarterfinals
April 21, 2021
Fayetteville, Ark. – George M. Billingsley Tennis Center
Doubles
1. #26 Florian Broska/Gregor Ramskogler (MSU) def. #25 Johannes Ingildsen/Will Grant (UF) 6-4
2. Nemanja Malesevic/Davide Tortora (MSU) def. Josh Goodger/Duarte Vale (UF) 6-4
3. Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) def. Nicolas Ocana/Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. 6-4
Order of finish: 3,1,2
Singles
1. #30 Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #3 Duarte Vale (UF) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
2. #6 Sam Riffice (UF) def. #48 Florian Broska (MSU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
3. #54 Nemanja Malesevic (MSU) vs. #14 Andy Andrade (UF) 4-6, 6-2, 4-4 (susp.)
4. #56 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. Alberto Colas (MSU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-2
5. Ben Shelton (UF) def. Carles Hernandez (MSU) 6-2, 6-2
6. #104 Josh Goodger (UF) def. #77 Davide Tortora (MSU) 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: 5,6,4,1,2
Players Mentioned
