State Tennis Looks To Continue Streak On Saturday At South Carolina
MSU is coming off a weekend where the Bulldogs won a pair of road SEC matches for the first time since 2005 and are now ranked 33rd nationally and are 7-5 on the season and 3-1 in league play. State owns the all-time advantage with a 13-9 overall record and are 4-5 when playing in Columbia, S.C.
State is led by 84th-ranked junior Artem Ilyushin who is fresh off his straight-set upset over No. 69 ranked Neal Skupski of LSU. Ilyushin will be looking to capture his 45th career victory as a Bulldog on Saturday as well as his 10th career conference win. New to the rankings this is week is fellow classmate George Coupland who now stands at No. 85 nationally. Coupland was the match-clinching point for the Bulldogs at LSU this past Sunday. Also ranked for the Maroon and White is junior Louis Cant who enters this week at No. 92 in the country. Cant has won two-straight and three of his last four. Bulldog freshman Malte Stropp is the SEC's reigning Freshman of the Week, an honor that Stropp has now received for the third time this season. Stropp boasts a team-best 15 wins this season, is an impressive 7-2 in dual match action and was the match-clinching point for the Maroon and White a week ago at Arkansas. James Chaudry is an impressive 7-1 in dual match play and recently had his nine-match win streak snapped at LSU and freshman Zach White has won two-straight and three of his last four matches while being an impressive 3-1 in league play.
In doubles MSU is paced by No. 69 ranked tandem Cant and Stropp who have posted a team-best 10 wins this season.
South Carolina is 6-9 on the year and is fresh off a 6-1 setback to No. 56 VCU. The Gamecocks have lost three-straight and are 1-3 in league play.
The match is set to begin at noon CT and live stats will be available at www.mstateathletics.com.