No. 6 Mississippi State Hosts Ranked SEC Weekend Against Ole Miss, Kentucky at A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre

Friday, March 27

Starkville

5 p.m.

Mississippi State

Ole Miss

No. 6 Mississippi State Hosts Ranked SEC Weekend Against Ole Miss, Kentucky at A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre

March 26, 2026 | Men's Tennis

By: Tad Couch, Mississippi State Athletic Communications Student Intern

Friday, March 27 at 5 p.m. CT
Starkville, Miss. | A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre
Match 20
No. 6 Mississippi State vs No. 27 Ole Miss
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter

Sunday, March 29 at 12 p.m. CT
Starkville, Miss. | A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre
Match 21
No. 6 Mississippi State vs No. 34 Kentucky
Watch Live | Live Stats | X/Twitter

STARKVILLE – The Bulldogs enter the weekend continuing their strong conference play, looking to build momentum in front of a home crowd as the regular season pushes toward its final stretch. Mississippi State has been dominant at home this season and will aim to protect its court against two more ranked conference opponents.

Friday's matchup brings the rivalry spotlight, as Mississippi State takes on No. 27 Ole Miss in the latest battle for the Magnolia State. The Bulldogs have found recent success in the series winning the previous two matchups and will look to continue that trend against a ranked Rebels squad.

On Sunday, Mississippi State faces Kentucky in another important conference contest. The Wildcats present a tough challenge with four ranked singles players and a pair of ranked doubles.

Mississippi State Notes
• Petar Jovanovic holds the all-time program wins record for combined singles and doubles victories.
• Niccolo Baroni has been strong in singles play, with the highest Bulldog win percentage in singles.
• The doubles tandem of Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez is the highest ranked SEC duo.
• Niccolo Baroni, Benito Sanchez Martinez, Petar Jovanovic, Mario Martinez Serrano and Raphael Vaksmann have all reached double-digit singles wins this season.
• Head coach Matt Roberts is the program's all-time wins leader.
• The Bulldogs have secured 10 ranked wins this season
• Mississippi State has maintained a winning record across all singles positions throughout the season.
• Six Bulldogs appear in the ITA singles rankings, led by Petar Jovanovic at No. 8.
• 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 seven of Mississippi States's conference victories have been over ranked opponents.
• 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.
• 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 1,124-647-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Jovanovic has 92 career doubles wins, making him third-most all-time. He sits just five 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 105. He is just three 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. Ole Miss
• Mississippi State is 33-53 all-time versus Ole Miss.
• The Bulldogs have won their last two meetings against the Rebels.
• The last time Mississippi State hosted Ole Miss, it was a 7-0 sweep for the Bulldogs.
• Matt Roberts is 6-9 all time versus Ole Miss.

Series History vs. Kentucky
• Mississippi State is 24-35 all-time vs. Kentucky
• Mississippi State holds the advantage at home, 14-10.
• Matt Roberts is 6-6 all-time, against the Wildcats.
• Roberts won his first six games vs. Kentucky as the head coach of the Dawgs.

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU Men's Tennis on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateMT"

– HailState.com –