Mississippi State
VCU
State Continues Momentum With Win Over VCU
February 11, 2024 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State was millimeters away from a 4-0 shutout against VCU on Sunday.
Nemanja Malesevic had an extremely close line call overruled on a match-set deuce point that sent Court 1 into a second-set tiebreaker. The extra time allowed the Rams to complete two other courts but only prolonged the eventual outcome.
Malesevic prevailed 8-6 in his tiebreaker against No. 36 Matisse Bobichon to clinch the match and give the Bulldogs a 4-2 victory.
"It feels good that we're doing some things better," said head coach Matt Roberts. "We're just trying to evolve. We're just trying get better in every area like how we coach, give them information and prepare for the match. We've even changed our warm-up routine before the match. We're just trying to evolve and get better so it's good to see some reward for that."
Sunday's win gave State its third consecutive victory and improved the Bulldogs to 7-3 on the year. It also evened the season series between the two teams after VCU (4-3) edged the Bulldogs 4-3 during the opening round of ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 27.
"(The VCU loss) had been in our heads for a few weeks," Malesevic said. "It was a tough loss because we all wanted to go to National Indoors. But we had to rebuild and look at ourselves in the mirror. We had to stay tough and stay resilient. I think it ended up being a good, early loss in the season that gave us a taste to get better and I think we have over the past few weeks."
MSU started the match strong by claiming the doubles point. The newly-formed team of Malesevic and Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes earned a 6-2 win over Hamza El Amine and Tristan Piombo. No. 29 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez clinched the point with a 6-2 victory over Bobichon and Mathis Bondaz to give the Bulldogs their first doubles advantage since Jan. 19.
State carried the momentum into singles where Dusan Milanovic made short work of Piombo 6-2, 6-3. Sanchez Martinez quickly followed suit, surging past German Samofalov in consecutive 6-3 sets to push the Bulldogs' lead to 3-0.
When Malesevic's match with Bobichon was extended to a second-set tiebreaker, No. 65 Bondaz closed out a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jovanovic, who is ranked 26th in singles. El Amine also added a win for VCU by slipping past Radomir Tomic 6-2, 6-4.
Malesevic, who had won his first set 6-1 over Bobichon, was able to close out the second-set tiebreaker to clinch his second match of the season and 18th of his career. It was also his second singles win over a ranked opponent this year and 19th of his career.
"I was focusing in on my game," Malesevic said. "It was mentally tough and I'm super happy that I was able to lock in. I feel like the last few weeks the guys and I have been building over the last few weeks and are on a good path."
Mississippi State will get a bit of a break before its next scheduled action. The Bulldogs will be bound for The Big Easy to take on Tulane on Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. MSU will utilize that time to continue cultivating the team culture and focusing in on ironing out some of the finer details in each players' game.
"This whole thing is just a process," Roberts said. "You have so many different mentalities and you're trying to help everyone build their mentality and self-view and then build the team's self-view. You want to focus in on all those little controllables. I feel like we have a really close team and communicate really well. We're doing a great job of working through those things and pushing each other daily.
"As a coach, it's a dream to have a team like this where everybody supports each other, loves each other and we have a lot of fun together. It's so much fun to come and work with them because everyone just wants to get better. It's been a challenging non-conference but it's just what we need. Things have been difficult, and it's really pushed us to improve in so many areas."
Mississippi State 4, VCU 2Rula Tennis Pavilion | Starkville, Miss.
Feb. 11, 2024
Doubles
1. Carles Hernandez/Dusan Milanovic (MS) vs. Romain Gales/German Samofalov (VCU) 3-5 unfinished
2. No. 29 Petar Jovanovic/Benito Sanchez Martinez (MSU) def. Matisse Bobichon/Mathis Bondaz (VCU) 6-2
3. Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes/Nemanja Malesevic (MSU) def. Hamza El Amine/Tristan Piombo (VCU) 6-2
Order of finish: (3,2)
Singles
1. Nemanja Malesevic (MSU) def. No. 36 Matisse Bobichon (VCU) 6-1, 7-6(6)
2. No. 65 Mathis Bondaz (VCU) def. No. 26 Petar Jovanovic (MSU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Carles Hernandez (MSU) vs. Romain Gales (VCU) 4-6, 6-4, 1-1, unfinished
4. Dusan Milanovic (MSU) def. Tristan Piombo (VCU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Benito Sanchez Martinez (MSU) def. German Samofalov (VCU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Hamza El Amine (VCU) def. Radomir Tomic (MSU) 6-2, 6-4
Order of finish: (4,5,2,6,1)
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Players Mentioned
