Bulldog Tennis Returns To SEC Action This Weekend
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? The 55th-ranked Mississippi State men’s tennis team (5-8, 1-3 SEC) returns to Southeastern Conference action this weekend with a road match on Friday 1 p.m. CST, when the Bulldogs will travel to Columbia, S.C., to meet 16th-ranked South Carolina (13-3, 2-2). MSU will then return home for a Sunday match against the seventh-ranked Florida Gators (11-5, 2-2) at 1 p.m. CST.
MSU is coming off a tough 0-3 showing at the Blue-Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., where the Bulldogs dropped close matches to No. 26 Notre Dame (4-2), No. 41 Oklahoma (4-2) and No. 54 Virginia Commonwealth (4-3).
“We are excited to get back to conference play,” said Mississippi State head coach Per Nilsson. “We feel like we are capable of beating anyone in the country and this weekend will be another great opportunity to play two elite teams.”
The Bulldogs are led by senior Ryan Farlow who ranks 108th nationally. True freshman Artem Ilyushin went 2-0 in singles last week and 1-1 in doubles after moving up to the No. 2 position in both spots. Also on a tear of late is junior Chris Doerr, winning five of his last seven singles matches, including a 2-1 record since moving up to the No. 5 spot. He also teamed up with sophomore Tanner Stump to upset the 40th-ranked duo of Benjamin Bouhana and Emil Lindgren of
The Gators boast three ranked players in singles, led by Alex Lacroix who stands at 14th nationally and has put together a 14-3 ledger this season, followed by No. 24 Carlos Cueto, who is 19-7 but is still in search of his first SEC win. Gator Tyler Hochwalt is ranked 87th. Cueto and Joey Burkhardt also represent UF as the 73rd-ranked doubles team in the country.
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