State Tennis Travels To Arkansas For Friday SEC Match
State owns a 21-7 all-time advantage over the Hogs and is 9-2 when playing at Arkansas. MSU has won two-straight against Arkansas and fourth-year head coach Per Nilsson boasts a 2-1 record against the western division foe. Last season MSU took down Arkansas in a 4-1 victory and won 4-3 at Arkansas in 2009.
MSU is coming off of a split weekend in which the Maroon and White opened Southeastern Conference play. This past Friday MSU upset then-ranked No. 22 Vanderbilt, 4-1, followed by a 6-1 setback to No. 12 Kentucky.
The Bulldogs boast two ranked singles players led by No. 73 nationally ranked Louis Cant followed by 92nd-ranked Artem Ilyushin. Cant is 5-3 in dual match action, 1-1 in conference play and is an impressive 8-3 this spring. Ilyushin is also 1-1 in league action while 5-4 in dual match play and owns a team-best 13 wins this season. Ilyushin is also a perfect 3-0 against Arkansas in his career. State's George Coupland is also a perfect 3-0 against Arkansas in his career. Bulldog sophomore James Chaudry is a perfect 6-0 in dual match action and has won a stellar eight-straight matches.
Arkansas' Matt Walters boasts an impressive 5-2 dual match record while Matt Hogan also has tallied five dual match victories this season. The Razorbacks' 66th-ranked Mike Ward and Nikolas Zogaj are a solid 7-2 in dual match play.
The Bulldogs and Razorbacks will serve up against each other a 1 p.m. CT on Friday and live stats will be available at www.mstateathletics.com.