MSU Hosts No. 10 Kentucky To Close Regular Season

STARKVILLE – Mississippi State men's tennis will wrap up its regular season against No. 10 Kentucky at noon on Sunday.

It will be the final home match for one of the top players in school history, Florian Broska. The graduate from Germany ranks in the top 10 at MSU in both singles and overall wins.

Broska's three-set victory against No. 31 George Howell of Vanderbilt on Friday was the 97^th singles victory of his career, tying him with Matthieu Ballay (1996-99) for the sixth-most in program history. It was also the 167^th overall victory for Broska, which matched Romain Ambert (2001-04) for eighth all-time.

Broska's next singles victory will tie him with Ambert for fifth in that category. He is currently ranked 27^th in singles and is also one-half of the No. 46 doubles tandem in the country alongside Gregor Ramskogler.

Ramskogler is on a roll as well, having earned four consecutive singles wins and six straight wins overall.

No. 74 Nemanja Malesevic has won eight of his last 10 singles matches and is coming off a dominating 6-2, 6-0 showing against Vandy's 88^th-ranked Joubert Klopper on Friday. Malesevic leads the team with an 18-5 dual match record and is tied with Broska with seven ranked singles wins this spring.

The Bulldogs (14-10, 4-7 SEC) celebrated a 6-1 victory over Vanderbilt on Friday. After the Commodores claimed the doubles point, State battled back to sweep all six singles matches.

"We always want to peak toward the end of the season," Malesevic said. "I really feel that we are doing that. We just have to keep pushing ourselves every single day in practice. We're getting tougher as a team and are really close. That's paying off on the court. Coach (Matt) Roberts says you have to squeeze an orange to see what's in there. I think we got squeezed a lot this year with some injuries and stuff but we're responding well."

Sunday's match will be the second meeting between the Bulldogs and Kentucky this season. The Wildcats won a tight 4-2 decision at the ITA Kickoff Weekend inside the Rula Tennis Pavilion on Jan. 30.

Mississippi State claimed the doubles point that day with Broska and Ramskogler winning 6-3 over the now No. 48 team of Liam Draxl and Millen Hurrion while Malesevic and Davide Tortora took down then No. 34 Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer 6-4.

Broska also defeated Draxl – the reigning ITA National Player of the Year – in straight sets in singles 6-4, 6-2.

Kentucky comes into Sunday's matchup at 9-2 in the SEC and 18-6 overall. The Wildcats have claimed their last three matches, including a 4-2 win at No. 41 LSU on Friday.

UK's singles lineup features four ranked competitors in Gabriel Diallo (13), Draxl (21), Hurrion (69) and Lapadat (117).

MSU has won six of the last eight meetings against the Wildcats and lead the series 14-8 in Starkville.

For more information on the Bulldog men's tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

MSU Hosts No. 10 Kentucky To Close Regular Season

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Players Mentioned

Florian Broska

Nemanja Malesevic

Gregor Ramskogler

Davide Tortora

Mississippi State University Athletics