Men's Tennis Announces Spring Schedule
December 20, 2024 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State is gearing up for another successful spring of men's tennis under head coach Matt Roberts.
Roberts ushers in his 11th season at the helm of the Bulldogs with a dozen-straight home matches to start the 2025 campaign. MSU opens the year with a doubleheader against Tennessee State and Samford on Jan. 12 and close the homestand with a twin bill versus Memphis and Jackson State on Feb. 9.
The Bulldogs are slated for a doubleheader against Chattanooga on Jan. 17, face both Troy and Alabama State on Jan. 19 and Tulane and Tennessee Tech on Feb. 2. Mississippi State will also host ITA Kickoff Weekend for the seventh time since 2013 when it welcomes NC State, LSU and Pepperdine to the Rula Tennis Pavilion on Jan. 25-26.
"We are looking forward to a lot of home matches this spring leading up to hosting ITA Kickoff Weekend, where we have three top 25 teams coming into Rula," Roberts said.
Should the Bulldogs win both matches during ITA Kickoff Weekend, they will qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Dallas and Waco, Texas from Feb. 14-16.
MSU opens Southeastern Conference play with five of its first seven matches on the road, including three of the first four. The Bulldogs begin their road trek at Tennessee on Feb. 22 followed by Kentucky two days later. They also have road dates scheduled with Texas (March 6), Vanderbilt (March 13) and Georgia (March 15) to start the conference campaign.
Mississippi State's lone home matches during that stretch are against LSU on Feb. 27 and Oklahoma on March 8. The Bulldogs do have a five-match homestand starting with South Carolina on March 23 followed by Arkansas (March 27) and Florida (March 29) to close out the month and begin April against Texas A&M (April 3) and Auburn (April 5).
MSU finishes the regular season with road matches at Ole Miss on April 11 and Alabama on April 13 before heading to the SEC Championships in Columbia, South Carolina. Â
Start times for each match will be announced at a later date.
"Nothing is easy, and the SEC looks deeper than ever," Roberts said. "But we feel we have a strong team to compete with the best this year. We need everyone to come out and support this team because your energy elevates our team's focus and intensity. Thank you for the support and we will see you in January!"
The Bulldogs return seven players from last year's squad that reached Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the past six seasons, including two-time All-Americans Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez.
Upperclassmen Dusan Milanovic and Michal Novansky also return as does sophomores Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes, Marshall Landry and Radomir Tomic. Two-time first team All-Sun Belt Mario Martinez Serrano joined the squad in the fall as did freshman Niccolo Baroni. Incoming freshman Bryan Hernandez Cortes is set to enroll in January.
Baroni, Jovanovic, Martinez Serrano and Sanchez Martinez all represented MSU at the NCAA Individual Championships last month with Baroni, Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez all competing in both singles and doubles.
Jovanovic enters the spring ranked 45th in singles followed by Baroni at No. 72, Martinez Serrano at No. 81 and Sanchez Martinez at No. 103. Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez are ninth in the nation in doubles while Baroni and Martinez Serrano start dual match play ranked No. 20.
Mississippi State posted a 19-8 record last season and finished third in the conference with a 9-3 SEC mark. The Bulldogs hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA Championships at home and reached the Round of 16.
For more information on the Bulldog men's tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateMT" on X, Instagram and Facebook.
Players Mentioned
