MSU Tennis' Ilyushin, Coupland To Begin Play In NCAA Singles
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State junior tennis standouts Artem Ilyushin and George Coupland will begin competition in the 64-player NCAA Singles Championship Wednesday in Palo Alto, Calif. The pair, who had been the second and third alternates to the main draw, learned this week they had gained entries into the field.
Currently ranked 61st nationally, Ilyushin will face 37th-ranked Daniel Kosakowski of UCLA at 3 p.m. CT in Wednesday's first round at Stanford. The 60th-ranked Coupland will take on 11th-ranked J.P. Smith of Tennessee, a 9-16 alphabetical seed in the draw, at 3:30 p.m. CT.
Ilyushin was named 2011 second-team, all-SEC. He is a career 49-34 in singles (19-11 in 2010-11) and was ranked a career-best 53rd in singles earlier this spring. He has defeated six top 80 singles foes this season, one in top 15.
Coupland was also named 2011 second-team, all-SEC. He is a career 36-30 in singles (16-13 in 2010-11) and has been ranked as high as 55th this year. He has defeated four ranked singles foes in 2010-11, two in the top 40 and one in the top 5.
Playing the top two spots in 2011 MSU's lineup, both players helped State's team post its best record since 1998, claim its first-ever SEC Western Division crown, and reach the NCAA Team Championship second round two weeks ago in Atlanta.
Coupland and Ilyushin's appearance in this year's field marks the second of their careers in the NCAA Individual Championships, but first in singles. They also competed as a tandem in the 2010 NCAA Doubles Championship in Athens, Ga.
Mississippi State has now had a main draw qualifier for either the NCAA Singles or Doubles Championship in 21 of the last 23 years.