Lady Bulldog Tennis Falls In Tough One To No. 67 Auburn, 4-3
AUBURN, Ala. - Alexandra Perper, Oleysa Tsigvintseva and Roseline Dion picked up singles victories as Mississippi State's Lady Bulldog tennis dropped a tough 4-3 match at No. 67 Auburn Sunday.
Auburn gained an early advantage in the match by taking the doubles point, which turned out to be very big in the contest.
Emily Flickinger and Jacqueline Kasler defeated MSU's Naomi Tran and Olesya Tsigvintseva 8-5 at the top spot in the lineup. The Lady Bulldogs suffered a similar defeat at the No. 3 position as Plamena Kurteva and Taylor Schreimann of the Lady Tigers took down Roseline Dion and Ekaterina Iakovleva in an 8-5 decision clinching the first overall point for Auburn. Petra Ferancova and Alexandra Perper were able to gain a win in the Bulldog's favor in the last match with a 9-8(4) triumph against UA's Olivia Bennett and Jen Pfeifler at No. 2.
The beginning of singles play resulted in another point for the Lady Tigers as #157 Bennett defeated MSU's Ferancova 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5. Auburn secured a victory at the No. 2 position as well with a 6-3, 6-3 victory for AU's Pfeifler against MSU's Iakovleva, putting the Tigers ahead of the Bulldogs 3-0.
Auburn then clinched the victory with a 6-1, 6-3 win for Kasler over MSU's Tran on court 4. However, Mississippi State notched three consecutive victories to end the day, two in straight sets.
At the No. 1 position, the 91st-ranked Perper advanced to 8-1 this season with a 7-5, 6-2 victory against Flickinger of Auburn. Dion notched another MSU win, posting a 6-3, 6-2 win against Schreimann at the No. 6 position. The final point of the day went to MSU's Tsigvintseva, who outlasted Tiger Kurteva 6-3, 5-7, 1-0(7) at the No. 3 position.
The Lady Bulldogs will return to their home courts this weekend as they take on the Georgia Bulldogs at 2 p.m. on Friday, followed by a match against Tennessee at 1 p.m. on Sunday, both at the Pitts Tennis Centre.
Updates for MSU matches can be found on twitter at @mstateWT. Live stats links can be found on hailstate.com.
AUBURN 4, MISSISSIPPI STATE 3
March 4, 2012 - Auburn, Ala.
DOUBLES -
1. Emily Flickinger/Jacqueline Kasler (AU) def. Naomi Tran/Olesya Tsigvintseva (MSU) 8-5
2. Petra Ferancova/Alexandra Perper (MSU) def. Olivia Bennett/Jen Pfeifler (AU) 9-8 (7-4)
3. Plamena Kurteva/Taylor Schreimann (AU) def. Roseline Dion/Ekaterina Iakovleva (MSU) 8-5
SINGLES -
1. #91 Alexandra Perper (MSU) def. Emily Flickinger (AU) 7-5, 6-2
2. Jen Pfeifler (AU) def. Ekaterina Iakovleva (MSU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Olesya Tsigvintseva (MSU) def. Plamena Kurteva (AU) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0(7)
4. Jacqueline Kasler (AU) def. Naomi Tran (MSU) 6-1, 6-3
5. #157 Olivia Bennett (AU) def. Petra Ferancova (MSU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Roseline Dion (MSU) def. Taylor Schreimann (AU) 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (5,2,4,1,6,3)