Bulldog Tennis Earns 20th NCAA Bid; To Meet Florida State In 1st Round
Tuesday's at-large selection marks the Bulldogs' 20th appearance in the NCAA Championship all-time, the 16th since the dual match team format began in 1977.
MSU (13-8), currently ranked 21st nationally, will meet 47th-ranked Florida State (9-14), next Friday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center on the Georgia Tech campus in a match that will begin at 10 a.m. ET. If State wins that contest, the Bulldogs would advance to play the winner between 15th-ranked host Georgia Tech (who is the country's No. 15 seed overall) and Middle Tennessee on Saturday, May 14, at 3 p.m. ET in the second round. The Saturday contest would be for a spot in the NCAA Team Championship's round of 16, which will be held May 21-24 in Palo, Alto, Calif.
"Needless to say, we are very happy to have our program back in the NCAAs," MSU head coach Per Nilsson, who was named 2011 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, said. "We have had a successful season, winning the SEC West and positioning ourselves for this bid. We are very proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to the opportunity to play in the national championship."
"I knew we'd draw someone with a great team no matter where we went. Florida State is in the tournament for a reason and we will have to be at our best to get past them. They have a lot of recent experience in the tournament."
The Bulldogs and Seminoles have met in men's tennis 13 times, with State holding an 8-5 series lead (since 1969). The teams have not met since the 1997 season, when MSU took a 7-0 decision in Starkville and the Bulldogs have won five-straight in the series.
The teams have never met in the NCAA Tournament, where Florida State will be making its ninth straight appearance. MSU is back in the NCAA field for the first time since 2005. State's 15-year streak (1991-2005) of appearances in the NCAAs ended that season.
The Bulldogs are 15-15 in the tournament all-time. In its 15 appearances, State has reached the round of 16 11 times, the quarterfinals five times, and the national semifinals twice. MSU has made 20 NCAA showings in men's tennis overall, also competing four consecutive seasons in the 1960s (1965-68) when the event was in an individual format.
The Southeastern Conference's power was once again very evident in the NCAA field this season, with nine of the league's 12 teams earning bids to the 64-team field. State had the biggest turnaround in the league in 2011, going from 2-8 last season to 8-3 this year in capturing its first-ever Western Division crown.
MSU IN THE 2011 NCAA MEN'S TENNIS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
First and Second Rounds
May 13-14, 2011 - Atlanta, Ga.
Friday, May 13
#21 Mississippi State (13-8) vs. #47 Florida State (9-15) - 10 a.m. ET
#15 Georgia Tech (19-5) vs. Middle Tennessee (13-12) - 1 p.m. ET
Saturday, May 14
Second Round Match (to advance to round of 16 at Palo Alto, CA) - 3 p.m. ET
(numbers preceding team names indicate current ITA national rankings)