Mississippi State
Ole Miss
No. 13 MSU Ready To Host Rival Rebels
March 28, 2024 | Men's Tennis
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State climbed six spots to No. 13 nationally following a pair of ranked road wins last weekend.
Now Matt Roberts' Bulldogs return home to host rival and 56th-ranked Ole Miss on Friday at 5 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
MSU has won four of its last five matches and enters the contest at 13-5 overall and 5-2 in conference play. The Bulldogs won back-to-back 4-3 matches last weekend at then No. 16 South Carolina and No. 33 Florida.
For his efforts in those victories, No. 39 Petar Jovanovic was named the SEC Player of the Week. Jovanovic came out on top in both of his singles matches, including a win over 105th-ranked Casey Hoole of South Carolina 6-4, 6-4. He also helped win the doubles point against the Gamecocks as he and fellow sophomore Benito Sanchez Martinez – ranked 37th in doubles – downed No. 19 Hoole and Toby Samuel 6-1.
Jovanovic leads State with 23 singles wins this season, which include a team-topping five triumphs against ranked opponents. He and Sanchez Martinez have also notched a Bulldog-best 16 doubles wins, six of which have come against ranked foes.
No. 118 Nemanja Malesevic has earned seven of his 10 wins this spring at the No. 1 position in the lineup. Malesevic and his doubles partner, Michal Novansky, have won five of their last six decisions.
Senior Carles Hernandez has a chance to reach a career milestone on Friday. Hernandez enters the match against the Rebels with 98 total victories (68 singles, 30 doubles).
Ole Miss heads to Starkville sporting a 9-9 overall record and is 2-5 in league play. The Rebels have lost their last three outings, including a 4-3 loss at South Carolina this past Sunday.
No. 62 Nikola Slavic leads Ole Miss' singles lineup and also makes up half of its 65th-ranked doubles tandem alongside Lukas Engelhardt.
For more information on the Bulldog men's tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateMT" on X, Instagram and Facebook.
Players Mentioned
