No. 12 MSU Visiting Vols, Tide This Weekend

Friday, March 31

Knoxville, Tenn.

3 p.m. CT

Mississippi State

Tennessee

Photo by: Laura Parsley/MSU Athletics

No. 12 MSU Visiting Vols, Tide This Weekend

March 30, 2023 | Men's Tennis

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By: Kellen Walker, Student Assistant

For the second straight week, No. 12 Mississippi State men's tennis is back on the road. The Bulldogs will begin at 14^th-ranked Tennessee on Friday at 3 p.m. CT and then travel to Tuscaloosa to face No. 52 Alabama on Sunday at 1 p.m.

MSU split last weekend's road trip, defeating then No. 70 Vanderbilt 5-2 before falling in a tightly-contested 4-3 match at then sixth-ranked Kentucky without the services of No. 108 Carles Hernandez and No. 123 Nemanja Malesevic.

Hernandez and Malesevic are also ranked 44^th in doubles and are 13-8 overall this season. Hernandez tops the team with a 20-5 singles record and has won nine of his last 11 matches. Malesevic leads the Bulldogs with five singles victories over ranked opponents and has also clinched five matches.

Heading into Friday, the 74^th-ranked duo of Petar Jovanovic and Ewen Lumsden are riding a five-match winning streak in doubles, including a perfect 4-0 record in SEC play. Two of those victories came against duos that were ranked in the top 40 at the time of the match.

In singles, Lumsden currently leads the team at 15-3 during dual match play and is riding a four-match winning streak. The past Sunday, the graduate from Glasgow, Scotland earned a win over 27^th-ranked Alafia Ayeni of Kentucky, the second-highest ranked win of his career.

Matt Roberts' Bulldogs enter the weekend at 16-4 overall and 4-3 in conference play. Friday's match against Tennessee will be the seventh top 20 opponent the Bulldogs have faced this season, going 4-2 during those matchups.

The Volunteers lead the all-time series 37-22 with an 18-8 advantage at home. Mississippi State has won six out of the last nine meetings in the series but Tennessee emerged victorious 5-2 in Starkville last season.

The Vols (14-6, 4-2 SEC) are coming off two ranked victories at home last weekend over then ninth-ranked Columbia (4-1) and then No. 29 Texas A&M (6-1).

In singles, Tennessee features second-ranked Johannus Monday as well as No. 57 Emile Hudd and No. 122 Shunsuke Mitsui. Monday and Pat Harper also hold the No. 2 spot in doubles while Hudd and Mitsui are ranked 60th in doubles.

Alabama heads into the weekend with a 9-11 overall record and a 1-6 SEC record. The Crimson Tide are set to host Vanderbilt on Friday prior to taking on the Bulldogs.

MSU leads the all-time series over Alabama 37-25 with a 15-12 edge on the road. The Bulldogs have claimed 12 of the last 13 matches in the series, including a 5-0 sweep in Starkville last season.

The Tide feature No. 83 Enzo Aguiard and No. 88 Filip Paninsek in their singles lineup.

Malesevic defeated Aguiard 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in Starkville last spring while Hernandez knocked off Planinsek 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the ITA Southern Regional Championships in Tuscaloosa back in October.

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