Men's Tennis Travels To Fayetteville

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The final road trip of the regular season will be a familiar destination for Mississippi State men's tennis coach Matt Roberts.

Roberts was a four-year letterwinner and three-time captain at Arkansas from 2003-06 and now returns to his alma mater on Friday to take on the 54^th-ranked Razorbacks at 4 p.m.

Roberts is a perfect 8-0 against his former school including one win already this year. The 30^th-ranked Bulldogs won 4-1 over Arkansas in Starkville on Jan. 29 as part of the ITA Kickoff.

In fact, MSU has won the past 14 meetings against the Hogs and lead the series 14-1 in Fayetteville and 32-7 overall.

The Bulldogs (13-9, 3-6 SEC) split last weekend's action, winning 4-3 at Auburn before falling 5-2 at home to Ole Miss.

State's singles lineup features a pair of ranked players. No. 31 Florian Broska currently has 96 career singles wins, good enough for seventh all-time in school history. Broska needs just one more victory to move into a sixth-place tie with Matthieu Ballay (1996-99).

No. 68 Nemanja Malesevic has won six of his last eight singles matches and leads the team with a 16-5 record during dual match play. Malesevic has fared exceptionally well on the road, posting a 5-1 record away from the friendly confines of home.

Broska and Malesevic have each posted six ranked victories the spring to lead the team in that category.

Broska and doubles partner Gregor Ramskogler reentered the rankings this week for the first time since February. Broska and Ramskogler have won three of their last four matches, including a 7-5 victory against the then No. 12 tandem of Lukas Engelhardt and Finn Reynolds of Ole Miss their last time out.

That doubles victory was the 165^th overall win of Broska's career, leaving him standing alone for 10^th all-time at Mississippi State. His next victory will move him into a tie for eighth with Romain Ambert (2001-04) and Malte Stropp (2010-14).

Arkansas enters Friday's match even at 11-11 on the year and is 2-7 in conference play. The Razorbacks also split last weekend, losing at No. 5 Tennessee 6-1 before beating Alabama 5-2 on the road.

Arkansas has a pair of ranked singles players in Aleksa Bucan (101) and Alexandre Reco (107). Carles Hernandez defeated Bucan in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-1 in January while Broska beat Reco 7-6(3), 7-5.

The Hogs also have a couple of MSU ties on their roster. Head coach Andy Jackson served in the same capacity for both the Bulldogs' men's and women's teams and is the men's all-time leader with 220 wins.

Jackson was State's women's coach from 1985-89 before taking over the men's program from 1989-2001. Arkansas redshirt junior Hunter Harrison spent his freshman year in Starkville, appearing in seven total matches in 2017-18.

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

Men's Tennis Travels To Fayetteville

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Players Mentioned

Florian Broska

Carles Hernandez

Nemanja Malesevic

Gregor Ramskogler

Mississippi State University Athletics