MSU Women’s Tennis Earns Bids To NCAA Individual Championships
May 04, 2021 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE – Just a day after receiving its fifth bid to the NCAA Team Championship in six seasons, the Mississippi State women's tennis team received more good news Tuesday with three members of the squad learning they have been selected to the 2021 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, to be held May 23-28 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
MSU's Emma Antonaki was selected to compete in the 64-player NCAA Singles Championship, while the Bulldog tandem of Magda Adaloglou and Tamara Racine are the first alternate to the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship.
Antonaki's selection to the singles draw was her second in as many seasons the tournament has been held during her career, having also qualified in 2019 as a true freshman. She becomes 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 addition, Antonaki is the only Bulldog to ever punch a ticket to the singles draw in both her freshman and sophomore campaigns.
The Athens, Greece, native earned the highest ITA singles ranking of her career earlier this season at No. 19 and is currently ranked No. 27 after defeating four ranked opponents in 2021. The accolades continue to pile up for Antonaki as well as she garnered First Team All-SEC honors this season. She owns a 16-4 overall ledger in singles this season, 14-4 in dual matches and 5-4 in the SEC at the top two positions in State's lineup. 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.
The No. 1 alternate to the 2021 NCAA Doubles field, Adaloglou and Racine matched their highest ITA ranking as a doubles duo at No. 14 on March 30 and are currently ranked No. 21 in the latest national poll released last Wednesday. The pair has ousted four ranked opponents in 2021, including two within the Top 20. They are 5-5 overall while competing at the top position in State's doubles lineup.
Draws for both tournaments will be released later this month, prior to the start of the singles and doubles championships in Orlando.
No. 38 Mississippi State will travel to Austin, Texas, this Friday to face No. 33 Arizona State in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Team Championship at Noon CT. Joining the Bulldogs and Sun Devils at the 1st/2nd Round site are the No. 2 national seed and host Texas and Denver. The Longhorns and Pioneers will battle in the other first round matchup at 3 p.m. CT Friday. The winners of the two Friday matches will compete on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT for the right to advance to the NCAA Round of 16 in Orlando, Florida, on May 16.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis team, visit HailState.com and follow "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
