Mississippi State
SMU
State Set For ITA Kickoff Weekend
January 26, 2023 | Men's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla., – Mississippi State men's tennis travels for the first time this season to compete in ITA Kickoff Weekend at the University of Florida.
The Bulldogs start off the event against SMU at 10 a.m. CT on Friday and will meet either USF or the host Gators the following day. The winner of the two-day event qualifies for a spot at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago next month.
MSU is off to a 4-0 start to the season and coming off a doubleheader sweep of Middle Tennessee State (5-2) and Tennessee State (6-1) last Sunday.
Matt Roberts' Bulldogs feature the nation's No. 42 doubles tandem of Carles Hernandez and Nemanja Malesevic and the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, Petar Jovanovic. Hernandez and Malesevic have won seven of their last nine doubles matches together while Jovanovic – ranked 107th in singles – is riding a seven-match winning streak that dates back to the fall.
Gregor Ramskogler enters the weekend with 54 career dual match doubles victories, which ties him with Kristian Broems (1993-96) and Nuno Borges (2016-19) for the fourth-most in school history. Ramskogler's 76 overall doubles wins also ranks eighth all-time at State and is one shy of moving up to match René-Charles Combette (2000-03).
Mississippi State has participated in ITA Kickoff Weekend every year since 2011 and reached the ITA National Team Indoor Championships four times during that span.
MSU is 1-3 all-time against SMU with the last meeting coming in the opening round of the 2017 NCAA Championships in Norman, Oklahoma. The Bulldogs swept that matchup 4-0.
The Mustangs are off to a 5-1 start to the season having won back-to-back matches against Texas Rio Grand Valley (6-1) and UT Tyler (7-0) in a twin bill on Jan. 21.
USF will take on 16th-ranked Florida on Friday at 1 p.m. CT. The Bulls are 3-3 on the year and feature a pair of ranked singles competitors in No. 67 Alvin Tudorica and No. 69 Davide Tortora. Tortora played at Mississippi State from 2020-22.
The Bulldogs have won the past two matches against USF and lead the overall series 5-2. MSU defeated the Bulls 6-1 in Starkville during their last meeting on Feb. 3, 2019.
Florida is 1-1 on the year. The Gators dropped their opener to then No. 8 Texas 5-2 at home but bounced back for a 6-1 victory at UCF on Jan. 21.
Florida's lineup showcases ranked singles Nate Bonetto (51) and Jonah Braswell (93) as well as doubles tandems Tanapatt Nirundorn and Togan Tokac (10), Bonetto and Axel Nefve (37) and Braswell and Lukas Greif (t-43).
The Bulldogs are 19-40 all-time against Florida with their last win coming in the semifinals of the 2018 SEC Championship in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Gators swept State in Gainesville 7-0 last spring.
For more information on the Bulldog men's tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Players Mentioned
