No. 6 Mississippi State Set for Top-10 Road Tests at No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 7 LSU

Friday, March 20

Bryan-College Station, Texas

6 p.m.

Mississippi State

Texas A&M

No. 6 Mississippi State Set for Top-10 Road Tests at No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 7 LSU

March 19, 2026 | Men's Tennis

By: Tad Couch, Mississippi State Athletic Communications Student Intern

Friday, March 20 at 6 p.m. CT
Bryan-College Station, Texas | Mitchell Tennis Center
Match 18
No. 6 Mississippi State at No. 9 Texas A&M Carolina
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter

Sunday, March 22 at 12 p.m. CT
Baton Rouge, La. | LSU Tennis Complex
Match 19
No. 6 Mississippi State at No. 7  LSU
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 6 Mississippi State hits the road for a pivotal SEC weekend, facing back-to-back top-10 opponents in No. 9 Texas A&M on Friday, March 20 at 6 p.m., followed by No. 7 LSU on Sunday, March 22 at 12 p.m.

The Bulldogs enter the weekend riding a six-match winning streak and will look to carry that momentum into one of their toughest stretches of the season. It marks the second time this year Mississippi State will face consecutive top-10 opponents after previously taking on No. 1 Virginia and No. 4 Stanford in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

Mississippi State holds a 7-13 all-time record against the Aggies but has found recent success under head coach Matt Roberts. The Bulldogs dominated the most recent meeting, earning a 6-1 victory in Starkville.

Texas A&M features a strong lineup with three ranked singles players: No. 30 Theo Papamalamis, No. 51 Khololwam Montsi and No. 68 Alexander Frusina. The Aggies are equally dangerous in doubles, highlighted by the No. 13 duo of Papamalamis and Togan Tokac, along with No. 40 Montsi/Frusina and No. 72 Skrobarcek/Papamalamis.

Mississippi State trails the all-time series with LSU 24-36-1 but enters Sunday's matchup on a three-match winning streak against the Tigers.

LSU is led by a pair of top-30 singles players in No. 24 Erik Arutiunian and No. 29 Olaf Pieczkowski. In doubles, the tandem of Matias Ponce de Leon and Arutiunian comes in ranked No. 42 nationally.

Mississippi State Notes
• Petar Jovanovic holds the all-time program wins record for singles and doubles victories.
• Niccolo Baroni is perfect in singles to start conference play, 9-0.
• The No. 4 tandem of Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez are currently on a six game win streak, their longest of the season.
• Benito Sanchez Martinez, Petar Jovanovic, Mario Martinez Serrano, and Raphael Vaksmann have all reached 10 singles victories this season.
• Head Coach Matt Roberts holds the record for most wins in program history with 227 wins at the helm.
• 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.
• All six of Mississippi States's conference victories have been over ranked opponents, No. 8 Georgia, No. 37 Vanderbilt and No. 61 Tennessee at home and No. 14 South Carolina, No. 18 Auburn, and No. 22 Florida on the road.
• 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 to secure a birth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• The Bulldogs are above .500 at every singles position through the opening stretch of the season.
• Six Bulldogs are ranked in the ITA singles rankings, led by Petar Jovanovic at No. 8, the second highest-ranked player in the SEC.
• No. 4 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez are the highest ranked SEC doubles duo.
• Junior Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes finds himself in the ITA doubles ranking for the first time in his career alongside Bryan Hernandez Cortes at No. 47.
• 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 1,123-646-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Jovanovic has 91 career doubles wins, making him third-most all-time. He sits just six wins away from Laurent Miquelard's (1992-95) total of 97.
• Jovanovic currently has 62 career dual match doubles wins. He is just three wins away from breaking Ramskogler's total for the for the most all-time.
• Jovanovic is now 4th all-time in career singles wins with 104. He is just four wins shy of 3^rd and Mihnea Nastase's total of 108 wins.

Mississippi State in the ITA Rankings
Team Ranking – 6th
Singles
No. 6 – Petar Jovanovic
No. 35 – Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 62 – Mario Martinez Serrano
No. 68 – Niccolo Baroni
No. 97 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes
No. 123 – Raphael Vaksmann

Doubles
No. 4 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 47 - Bryan Hernandez Cortes and Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes

Series History vs. Texas A&M
• Mississippi State is 7-13 all-time versus Texas A&M.
• The Bulldogs picked up a win in the last meeting, 6-1.
• Matt Roberts is 5-9 all time versus the Aggies.

Series History vs. LSU
• Mississippi State is 24-36-1 all-time versus LSU
• The Bulldogs have a 10-16-1 record in Baton Rouge, La.
• Mississippi State has won the past three meetings against the Tigers.
Friday, March 20 at 6 p.m. CT
Bryan-College Station, Texas | Mitchell Tennis Center
Match 18
No. 6 Mississippi State at No. 9 Texas A&M Carolina
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter

Sunday, March 22 at 12 p.m. CT
Baton Rouge, La. | LSU Tennis Complex
Match 19
No. 6 Mississippi State at No. 7  LSU
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 6 Mississippi State hits the road for a pivotal SEC weekend, facing back-to-back top-10 opponents in No. 9 Texas A&M on Friday, March 20 at 6 p.m., followed by No. 7 LSU on Sunday, March 22 at 12 p.m.
The Bulldogs enter the weekend riding a six-match winning streak and will look to carry that momentum into one of their toughest stretches of the season. It marks the second time this year Mississippi State will face consecutive top-10 opponents after previously taking on No. 1 Virginia and No. 4 Stanford in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
Mississippi State holds a 7-13 all-time record against the Aggies but has found recent success under head coach Matt Roberts. The Bulldogs dominated the most recent meeting, earning a 6-1 victory in Starkville.
Texas A&M features a strong lineup with three ranked singles players: No. 30 Theo Papamalamis, No. 51 Khololwam Montsi and No. 68 Alexander Frusina. The Aggies are equally dangerous in doubles, highlighted by the No. 13 duo of Papamalamis and Togan Tokac, along with No. 40 Montsi/Frusina and No. 72 Skrobarcek/Papamalamis.
Mississippi State trails the all-time series with LSU 24-36-1 but enters Sunday's matchup on a three-match winning streak against the Tigers.
LSU is led by a pair of top-30 singles players in No. 24 Erik Arutiunian and No. 29 Olaf Pieczkowski. In doubles, the tandem of Matias Ponce de Leon and Arutiunian comes in ranked No. 42 nationally.

Mississippi State Notes
• Petar Jovanovic holds the all-time program wins record for singles and doubles victories.
• Niccolo Baroni is perfect in singles to start conference play, 9-0.
• The No. 4 tandem of Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez are currently on a six game win streak, their longest of the season.
• Benito Sanchez Martinez, Petar Jovanovic, Mario Martinez Serrano, and Raphael Vaksmann have all reached 10 singles victories this season.
• Head Coach Matt Roberts holds the record for most wins in program history with 227 wins at the helm.
• 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.
• All six of Mississippi States's conference victories have been over ranked opponents, No. 8 Georgia, No. 37 Vanderbilt and No. 61 Tennessee at home and No. 14 South Carolina, No. 18 Auburn, and No. 22 Florida on the road.
• 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 to secure a birth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• The Bulldogs are above .500 at every singles position through the opening stretch of the season.
• Six Bulldogs are ranked in the ITA singles rankings, led by Petar Jovanovic at No. 8, the second highest-ranked player in the SEC.
• No. 4 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez are the highest ranked SEC doubles duo.
• Junior Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes finds himself in the ITA doubles ranking for the first time in his career alongside Bryan Hernandez Cortes at No. 47.
• 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 1,123-646-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Jovanovic has 91 career doubles wins, making him third-most all-time. He sits just six wins away from Laurent Miquelard's (1992-95) total of 97.
• Jovanovic currently has 62 career dual match doubles wins. He is just three wins away from breaking Ramskogler's total for the for the most all-time.
• Jovanovic is now 4th all-time in career singles wins with 104. He is just four wins shy of 3^rd and Mihnea Nastase's total of 108 wins.

Mississippi State in the ITA Rankings
Team Ranking – 6th
Singles
No. 6 – Petar Jovanovic
No. 35 – Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 62 – Mario Martinez Serrano
No. 68 – Niccolo Baroni
No. 97 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes
No. 123 – Raphael Vaksmann

Doubles
No. 4 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 47 - Bryan Hernandez Cortes and Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes

Series History vs. Texas A&M
• Mississippi State is 7-13 all-time versus Texas A&M.
• The Bulldogs picked up a win in the last meeting, 6-1.
• Matt Roberts is 5-9 all time versus the Aggies.

Series History vs. LSU
• Mississippi State is 24-36-1 all-time versus LSU
• The Bulldogs have a 10-16-1 record in Baton Rouge, La.
• Mississippi State has won the past three meetings against the Tigers.
• Matt Roberts is 10-2 all-time, at the helm, against LSU.

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