Sunday, May 23
Orlando, Fla. (USTA National Campus)
All Day
Mississippi State
vs
NCAA Individual Championships
Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Antonaki Begins NCAA Singles Action
May 22, 2021 | Women's Tennis
ORLANDO, Fla. – After another successful season, Mississippi State women's tennis standout Emma Antonaki will open competition in the 2021 NCAA Singles Championship Sunday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
Antonaki, ranked 33rd nationally, will meet Florida State's 12th-ranked Giulia Pairone, a 9-16 seed, at 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday in the opening round of the 64-player field. The two have never met.
The sophomore Antonaki owns a 16-5 overall ledger in singles this season, including a remarkable 14-5 mark in dual matches (5-4 in the SEC) at the top two positions in State's lineup. She earned the highest ITA singles ranking of her career earlier this season at No. 19 and is currently ranked No. 33 after defeating four ranked opponents in 2021, including two within the Top 50. Antonaki also garnered First Team All-SEC honors this season for the first time during her career.
Pairone will enter Sunday's affair with a 13-10 overall singles mark in 2020-21. She was 11-10 at the No. 1 position this season while helping lead the Seminoles to the NCAA quarterfinals as a team. A graduate student who transferred to FSU from Michigan for her final campaign as a collegian, the Turin, Italy, product was a two-time All-Big Ten selection for the Wolverines.
Live Video Streaming - TennisONE App
Tennis ONE is your home for FREE livestream coverage of the 2021 NCAA Division I Individual Championships from May 23-May 28. Both the singles and doubles tournaments will be housed in the app, giving fans the opportunity to join the action from anywhere in the world. All matches will be available on the TennisONE app. Live Stats
Fans can also follow all matches throughout the tournament via live statistics.
The Athens, Greece, native Antonaki secured her second career bid to the NCAA Singles Championship this year - after also making the 64-player field in 2019 as a true freshman - to become the first Bulldog to qualify for the singles tournament in both her freshman and sophomore seasons. In addition, Antonaki's selection makes her the third player in MSU program history to receive a bid to the NCAA Singles Championship multiple times, joining Georgiana Patrasc (2014, 2016) and Jasmine Lee (2015, 2016, 2017).
In 2019, Antonaki was the No. 1 alternate to the 2019 NCAA Singles Championship until entering the field. She dropped her opening round match there to North Carolina State's 10th-ranked Anna Rogers. Antonaki was just the third MSU women's tennis true freshman to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships and only the second in singles.
In just five semesters of competition, Antonaki has compiled 103 wins in singles and doubles combined, just 14 wins shy of MSU's career top 10 for total victories.
"We are excited Emma has earned her second berth to the NCAA Singles Championship in as many tries," MSU head coach Daryl Greenan said. "She has been a pillar on our team since her arrival in Starkville and we have seen her mature as a player since the last event in 2019. She has consistently proven herself among the best in the country and I know she is excited to compete this week."
The winner between Antonaki and Pairone will advance to Monday's second round of the NCAA Championship (match time TBA), where they would take on the winner of the battle between South Carolina's 30th-ranked Mia Horvit and VCU's 102nd-ranked Paola Delgado.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis team, visit HailState.com and follow "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Antonaki, ranked 33rd nationally, will meet Florida State's 12th-ranked Giulia Pairone, a 9-16 seed, at 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday in the opening round of the 64-player field. The two have never met.
The sophomore Antonaki owns a 16-5 overall ledger in singles this season, including a remarkable 14-5 mark in dual matches (5-4 in the SEC) at the top two positions in State's lineup. She earned the highest ITA singles ranking of her career earlier this season at No. 19 and is currently ranked No. 33 after defeating four ranked opponents in 2021, including two within the Top 50. Antonaki also garnered First Team All-SEC honors this season for the first time during her career.
Pairone will enter Sunday's affair with a 13-10 overall singles mark in 2020-21. She was 11-10 at the No. 1 position this season while helping lead the Seminoles to the NCAA quarterfinals as a team. A graduate student who transferred to FSU from Michigan for her final campaign as a collegian, the Turin, Italy, product was a two-time All-Big Ten selection for the Wolverines.
Live Video Streaming - TennisONE App
Tennis ONE is your home for FREE livestream coverage of the 2021 NCAA Division I Individual Championships from May 23-May 28. Both the singles and doubles tournaments will be housed in the app, giving fans the opportunity to join the action from anywhere in the world. All matches will be available on the TennisONE app. Live Stats
Fans can also follow all matches throughout the tournament via live statistics.
The Athens, Greece, native Antonaki secured her second career bid to the NCAA Singles Championship this year - after also making the 64-player field in 2019 as a true freshman - to become the first Bulldog to qualify for the singles tournament in both her freshman and sophomore seasons. In addition, Antonaki's selection makes her the third player in MSU program history to receive a bid to the NCAA Singles Championship multiple times, joining Georgiana Patrasc (2014, 2016) and Jasmine Lee (2015, 2016, 2017).
In 2019, Antonaki was the No. 1 alternate to the 2019 NCAA Singles Championship until entering the field. She dropped her opening round match there to North Carolina State's 10th-ranked Anna Rogers. Antonaki was just the third MSU women's tennis true freshman to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships and only the second in singles.
In just five semesters of competition, Antonaki has compiled 103 wins in singles and doubles combined, just 14 wins shy of MSU's career top 10 for total victories.
"We are excited Emma has earned her second berth to the NCAA Singles Championship in as many tries," MSU head coach Daryl Greenan said. "She has been a pillar on our team since her arrival in Starkville and we have seen her mature as a player since the last event in 2019. She has consistently proven herself among the best in the country and I know she is excited to compete this week."
The winner between Antonaki and Pairone will advance to Monday's second round of the NCAA Championship (match time TBA), where they would take on the winner of the battle between South Carolina's 30th-ranked Mia Horvit and VCU's 102nd-ranked Paola Delgado.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis team, visit HailState.com and follow "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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