No. 10 Bulldogs Host No. 3 Texas in Top 10 Showdown

Monday, February 23

Starkville

11 a.m.

Mississippi State

Texas

No. 10 Bulldogs Host No. 3 Texas in Top 10 Showdown

February 22, 2026 | Men's Tennis

By: Tad Couch, Mississippi State Athletic Communications Student Intern

Monday, February 23 at 11 a.m. CT
Starkville, Miss | A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre
Match 11
No. 10 Mississippi State vs No. 3 Texas
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STARKVILLE – No. 10 Mississippi State men's tennis will host No. 3 Texas on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 11 a.m. CT at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in a top-10 showdown between two nationally ranked programs.

Mississippi State holds a narrow 5-4 advantage in the all-time series, with the Bulldogs dropping the most recent contest, 4-3 on March 6, 2025, in Austin. Mississippi State's longest win streak in the series is two matches (1993–94), while the Longhorns enter Sunday's match with a one-match streak.

The Longhorns come to Starkville with a 10-3 overall record and riding a six-match winning streak. Texas claimed the ITA National Team Indoor Championship earlier this season and opened SEC play with a 6-1 road win at Alabama, establishing itself as one of the top teams in the nation.

Texas has collected several marquee wins this season, including victories over No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 5 TCU and No. 2 Ohio State. The Longhorns' three losses have come against elite competition, falling to No. 5 Virginia, No. 1 Wake Forest and No. 6 Ohio State.

Individually, Texas features four ranked singles players, led by No. 3 Sebastian Gorzny, along with No. 25 Kalin Ivanovski, No. 40 Sebastian Eriksson and No. 67 Abel Forger. The Longhorns also boast three ranked doubles teams, highlighted by the No. 12 pairing of Eriksson and Oliver Ojakaar, as well as the teams of Lucas Brown and Gorzny (No. 21) and Lucas Marionneau and Gorzny (No. 25).

Mississippi State Notes
• Mississippi State has won seven of their last 10 SEC openers and SEC home openers.
• The Bulldogs picked up their first top-five victory of the season defeating No. 4 Stanford 4-3 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• State has been on the road for much of the season, playing just two home matches prior to SEC play.
• Mississippi State opened the 2026 season with four consecutive road sweeps before returning home to sweep Santa Clara and Auburn at the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
• The Bulldogs hold a winning record at every singles position through the opening stretch of the season.
• Mississippi State earned its second and third ranked victories of the year at the ITA National Team Indoors over No. 4 Stanford and No. 23 Florida.
• Four Bulldogs are ranked in the ITA singles rankings, led by Petar Jovanovic at No. 10, the second highest-ranked player in the SEC.
• The Bulldogs have two doubles teams in the ITA Rankings for the first time this season. No. 4 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez are the highest ranked SEC duo.
• Seniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez return as ITA Doubles All-Americans, while Jovanovic also earned ITA Singles All-American honors after reaching the NCAA Individual Championships quarterfinals.
• Mississippi State posted 25 wins in 2025, tying the 1979 team for the most single-season victories in program history.
• In 2025, Benito Sanchez Martinez set single-season program records for dual-match wins in both singles and doubles.
• Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez are the winningest doubles pair in program history, surpassing Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic by nine victories.
• The Bulldogs return eight letterwinners from last season's NCAA quarterfinal squad.
• Mississippi State is in its 102nd season as a program, with an all-time record of 1,119-645-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Head coach Matt Roberts now holds the most career wins all time as the Bulldogs' head coach with 221 victories.
•Petar Jovanovic sits at 186 career wins (singles and doubles). He trails the all-time leader, Nuno Borges by three wins.
• Jovanovic has 86 career doubles wins, tying him with Gregor Ramskogler (2018-2023) for third-most all-time. He sits just 11 wins away from Laurent Miquelard's (1992-95) total of 97.
• Jovanovic currently has 56 career dual match doubles wins. He is just nine wins away from breaking Ramskogler's total for the for the most all-time.
• Jovanovic is 5th all-time in career dual match wins at 114 wins. He is now three wins away from being tied for 4th all-time.
• Jovanovic is in tied for 5^th all-time in career singles wins, with a total of 98. He is one win away from taking sole possession of 5th.

Mississippi State in the ITA Rankings
Team Ranking – 10th
Singles
No. 10 – Petar Jovanovic
No. 43 – Mario Martinez Serrano
No. 47 – Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 55 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes

Doubles
No. 4 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 47 – Mario Martinez Serrano and Michal Novansky

Series History vs. Texas
• Mississippi State is 5-4 all-time against the Longhorns.
• The Bulldogs are 1-0 against Texas at home.
• State dropped their only SEC meeting with the Longhorns 3-4 last season in Austin.
• The Bulldogs and Longhorns have met twice under head coach Matt Roberts, the victories are split, one apiece.


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