No. 17 MSU Set For Magnolia State Showdown At Ole Miss Sunday
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Riding a four-match winning streak, the 17th-ranked Mississippi State men’s tennis team (16-7, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) will play one of its biggest matches of the season to date, as the Bulldogs travel to Oxford, Miss., to face in-state rival No. 48 Ole Miss (8-9, 3-5 SEC) Sunday, March 30. Match time is set for 1 p.m. CT at UM’s Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.
MSU travels to Oxford after sweeping a three-match home stand against LSU, No. 71 Arkansas and Nicholls State last weekend. The wins moved MSU to 11-0 at home on the season, which is the best start at home since the 1998 squad went 11-0.
Leading the way for the Bulldogs is the freshman-senior combo of 67th-ranked Florian Lakat and 114th-ranked Malte Stropp. The rookie Lakat has won three of his last four matches, including earning his fifth ranked win of the season with a straight-sets defeat of No. 62 Chris Simpson of LSU last weekend. Stropp enters the weekend with 13 wins for the overall year, including seven for the dual match season.
Jordan Angus and Zach White anchor the middle of the lineup for the Bulldogs, with both coming off big weekends in the recent three-match home stand. Angus comes into Sunday’s match on a five-match winning streak, including clinching two of State’s matches last weekend. Angus’ 20 wins for the 2013-14 season lead all Bulldogs. White sports a 12-9 record for the year, including winning his last two matches, with a match-clinching win in last Sunday’s triumph against Nicholls State.
Rounding out the MSU lineup has been a trio of newcomers, with freshmen Rishab Agarwal and Robin Haden and junior Tassilo Schmid all seeing playing time. Agarwal has been excellent since SEC play has started, going 5-1 in conference play and 12-5 for the season overall. Haden has earned six victories for the year, with four of those coming in the spring. Schmid has won eight of his last 10 matches for the season, including earning a perfect 4-0 record in SEC play.
In doubles, the Bulldogs are led by the No. 63 tandem of Angus and Stropp, who have won 14 matches for the year, with eight of those wins coming in dual match play. Lakat and Schmid have been solid at the No. 2 position for the Bulldogs, putting together eight wins for the spring. The duo of Agarwal and White round out doubles for State, leading all squads for the spring with a 10-4 record.
Ole Miss will enter Sunday’s in-state showdown having won four of its last five matches, including sweeping a tripleheader against Jackson State last Tuesday. UM split its two SEC matches last weekend vs. LSU and Arkansas.
The Rebels are led by a pair of ranked singles players and a ranked doubles squad. Nik Scholtz, who comes into the weekend at No. 16 nationally, is 18-5 for the 2013-14 season and a perfect 9-0 in dual match play. No. 102 William Kallberg has also been a strong point in the Rebel lineup, earning 11 wins for the year. Doubles for Ole Miss has been led by the team of Kallberg and Stefan Lindmark, who have won seven matches this season.
Following Sunday’s Magnolia State battle, the Bulldogs will enter a home-away weekend as they enter the home stretch of SEC play. State will host No. 15 Florida on Friday, April 4, at 2 p.m. CT, and will travel to Columbia, S.C., to face No. 36 South Carolina on Sunday, April 6, at 12 p.m.
For more information on Mississippi State men’s tennis, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter (@HailStateMT), Facebook (HailStateMT) and Instagram (HailStateMT).