Mississippi State
UCF
No. 16 MSU Advances To NCAA Round of 16 For 15th Time With 4-2 Upset Of No. 10 UCF
May 09, 2021 | Men's Tennis
ORLANDO, Fla. – Mississippi State's 16th-ranked men's tennis team (18-9) had to dig about as deep as it possibly could Sunday in pulling out an incredible 4-2 victory over 10th-ranked, and No. 9 national seed, UCF (22-4) on the Knights' home courts at the USTA National Campus. The victory propelled the Bulldogs into the NCAA Round of 16 for the 15th time in its 25 all-time appearances in the NCAA Team Championship, including four of the last five.
State's Round of 16 matchup will feature a familiar foe in No. 8 Texas A&M, which downed Oklahoma 4-1 Saturday to advance. The Bulldogs and Aggies will square off Monday, May 17, at 7 p.m. ET. MSU will make a return trip to Orlando for the match, as the final four rounds of the 2021 NCAAs will be held at the USTA National Campus.
The Bulldogs' victory over the Knights Sunday was the first-ever meeting between the teams in men's tennis and improved State's all-time record in the NCAA Championship to 31-24. MSU is now one of only 15 teams in the nation to have reached the NCAA Round of 16 15 or more times in the last 30 years the tournament has been held.
The opening doubles point was simply as tight as it could possibly be, with all three courts going to tiebreakers. Homestanding UCF would secure two of those for the early 1-0 lead.
Court 2 would finish first, where the Bulldog duo of Nemanja Malesevic and Davide Tortora were edged by UCF's team of Gabriel Decamps and Juan Pablo Mazzuchi 7-6(2). The Bulldogs evened things up when the 15th-ranked tandem of Florian Broska and Gregor Ramskolger upset UCF's fifth-ranked pair of Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel 7-6(3). With the opening point on the line, UCF's duo of Alan Rubio and Kento held off Bulldogs Nicolas Ocana and Giovanni Oradini 7-6(2) at the No. 3 spot, putting the Knights up 1-0 early.
UCF rode that momentum into singles early on, establishing one-break leads in the first set on five of the six courts. But the Bulldogs stormed back with a fury, ultimately claiming the first set in five of the six contests to gain significant control of the match.
The 48th-ranked Broska would tie things up at 1-1 for the Bulldogs as he made quick work of UCF's Rubio at the No. 2 position 6-1, 6-2. Giving UCF the lead once again would be court 4, where Yamada ousted MSU's 121st-ranked Alberto Colas 6-1, 6-3.
With the match still very much in doubt, the first sets on the four remaining courts were all extremely tight, but State would claim all four – all of which it had trailed in by a service break - to shift momentum strongly in its favor.
MSU would tie things at 2-2 on court 6, where the veteran Ramskogler downed Sokolovskiy 7-6(3), 6-0, coming back from 3-1 down and staving off a set point in the first set. Following immediately behind, court 3 would wrap up with State's 53rd-ranked true freshman Malesevic also overcoming a 3-1 first-set deficit to claim his match over the 93rd-ranked Knight Mazzuci in a gutsy 7-5, 7-5 decision.
Then, court 5 would be the clinching match once again for the Bulldogs as Carles Hernandez fought back with a flourish from 4-1 down in the first set – fending off five set points late – to go on and oust UCF's Hilderbrand 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2. It was the true freshman's seventh match-clincher this season and his second in as many days for State in the NCAA Championship.
The final match of the day – which featured two Top 20 players - was then suspended. At the No. 1 spot, MSU's 20th-ranked Oradini was on serve with the Knights' No. 9-ranked Decamps at 7-5, 6-7(3), 2-2. Oradini had rallied from 4-2 down to take the opening set in that contest as part of all of the furious first-set comebacks the Bulldogs made across the lineup.
No. 16 Mississippi State 4, No. 10 UCF 2
2021 NCAA Championship – Second Round
May 9, 2021
Orlando, Fla. – USTA National Campus
Doubles
1. #15 Florian Broska/Gregor Ramskogler (MSU) def. #5 Trey Hilderbrand/Bogdan Pavel (UCF) 7-6(3)
2. Gabriel Decamps/Juan Pablo Mazzuchi (UCF) def. Nemanja Malesevic/Davide Tortora (MSU) 7-6(2)
3. Alan Rubio/Kento Yamada (UCF) def. Nicolas Ocana/Giovanni Oradini (MSU) 7-6(2)
Order of finish: 2,1,3
Singles
1. #20 Giovanni Oradini (MSU) vs. #9 Gabriel Decamps (UCF) 7-5, 6-7(3), 2-2, susp.
2. #48 Florian Broska (MSU) def. Alan Rubio (UCF) 6-1, 6-2
3. #53 Nemanja Malesevic (MSU) def. #93 Juan Pablo Mazzuci (UCF) 7-5, 7-5
4. Kento Yamada (UCF) def. #121 Alberto Colas (MSU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Carles Hernandez (MSU) def. Trey Hilderbrand (UCF) 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2
6. Gregor Ramskogler (MSU) def. Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF) 7-6(3), 6-0
Order of finish: 2,4,6,3,5
Players Mentioned
