Women's Tennis Releases Spring Slate
December 20, 2024 | Women's Tennis
STARKVILLE – Chris Hooshyar will start his second season at Mississippi State playing 15 of the first 18 women's tennis matches from the friendly confines of home.
The Bulldogs begin the year with a 10-match homestand beginning with a doubleheader against Bellarmine and Samford on Jan. 18. MSU also hosts twin bills against Tulane and Alabama A&M (Jan. 31), UAB and Arkansas State (Feb. 2), Memphis and Alcorn State (Feb. 7) and South Alabama and Mississippi Valley State (Feb. 21) before starting Southeastern Conference play.
League play opens for the Bulldogs with three-consecutive road matches at Alabama on Deb. 23 followed by trips to Vanderbilt (Feb. 28) and Missouri (March 2).
Five more matches in Starkville follow beginning with in-state rival Ole Miss on March 7 along with a doubleheader against LSU and Eastern Kentucky two days later. Mississippi State wraps up the homestand by taking on Florida and Auburn on March 14 and 16, respectively.
Hooshyar's squad treks to Kentucky (March 21) and Tennessee (March 23) before wrapping up the month at home against South Carolina (March 28) and Georgia (March 30).
MSU wrap up the regular season with three of its final four matches on the road. The Bulldogs visit Texas A&M (April 4), Oklahoma (April 11) and Arkansas (April 13) with their only home match coming against Texas on April 6.
The SEC Championships will be hosted at Auburn this year. Start times for each match will be announced at a later date.
"Our schedule will allow us to be tested every weekend," Hooshyar said. "The best thing about the SEC in women's tennis is that it's the best of the best. It's great because for us to get to where we want to go, we don't have to look far to see where we are in that pursuit and what we need to do to get there."
In 2024, Hooshyar had the best start by any first-year coach in program history and finished with 11 wins. Mississippi State capped off the regular season by beating Missouri 4-1 and return five members from that team – seniors Maria Rizzolo and Alessia Tagliente along with sophomores Jayna Clemens, Athina Pitta and Ava Rath.
A trio of freshmen – Emma Cohen, Gianna Oboniye and Carolina Troiano – made their MSU debuts this fall as did sophomore transfer Chiara Di Genova.
"I'm excited for our upcoming season," Hooshyar said. "We have plenty of challenges ahead. In Year 2, I want to see some major improvements, better emotional intelligence and better problem solving."
For more Information on the Bulldog women's tennis program, visit Hailstate.com or search for "HailstateWT" on X, Instagram and Facebook.
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