Bjelica Named SEC Player Of The Week
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? Senior Ivan Bjelica of the Mississippi State men's tennis team has been named the Southeastern Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week announced by the conference office in Birmingham on Tuesday.
A native of Belgrade, Serbia, Bjelica won four matches this past weekend which included an upset of third-ranked Greg Ouellette of Florida. With the win over Ouellette, Bjelica knocked off his third top-10 opponent this spring and upped his overall record to 12-5 this season. With a singles and doubles win last Friday, Bjelica helped State notch a win against South Carolina to capture their second conference win. The senior, ranked 37th-nationally in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association's poll, is 8-4 in dual matches this spring in singles. With two wins in doubles this past weekend Bjelica and Philippe Frayssinoux moved to 7-2 at the #1 spot and have won four straight matches.
The honor for Bjelica marks the 12th time a Bulldog has won the award since it was initiated for tennis in 2000. He joins Jeremy Bayon, Marco Baron, Rene-Charles Combette, Romain Ambert, Luiz Carvalho, Florent Girod and Pierre Mouillon who have earned the honor.
The 38th-ranked Bulldog netters will be back in action this Friday as they travel to Lexington, Ky., to take on Kentucky, followed by a trip to Nashville, Tenn., to challenge Vanderbilt.
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