No. 17 Bulldogs Open 2014 SEC Championship Against No. 55 LSU
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Post-season play is in full swing, as the 17th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs (18-8, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) open the 2014 SEC Championship against the No. 55 LSU Tigers (13-13, 2-10 SEC) on Thursday, April 17, at 6 p.m. CT, at Vanderbilt’s Currey Tennis Center.
The Tigers come into Thursday’s match after defeating the 58th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks 4-1 Wednesday afternoon in the SEC Championship’s opening round of play in Nashville, Tenn. The Bulldogs and the Tigers faced off earlier this season, with MSU taking a 4-2 win in Starkville on March 21. The two squads have met four times before in the SEC Championship, splitting the series at 2-2.
The winner of Thursday’s matchup will go on to battle fourth-seeded and 15th-ranked Florida on Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
Taking the lead for the Bulldogs in singles is freshman Florian Lakat, ranked 72nd nationally, and senior Malte Stropp, ranked 101st in the nation. Lakat enters Thursday having won three of his last four matches, including a straight-sets victory against LSU’s Chris Simpson. On the year, Lakat is 20-13 and 14-10 in dual match play, both second most on the MSU squad. Stropp has earned 14 wins this year, with eight of those coming in spring play.
In the middle of the order, the Bulldogs will have senior Zach White and sophomore Jordan Angus. White has put together 13 wins in dual match play, while Angus leads all Bulldogs with 21 victories in 2013-14, 18 in the spring and eight in SEC play. Angus also holds an eight-match winning streak, which also stands best on the squad.
Rounding out the lineup for MSU is a trio of Bulldogs: freshmen Rishab Agarwal and Robin Haden and junior Tassilo Schmid. Agarwal is 14-6 on the year and 7-2 in SEC play, with 11 of the 14 wins coming at the No. 5 spot. Schmid has seen a majority of the action at the No. 6 position, earning 11 victories in the spring and going 5-1 against conference opponents. Haden, who has played in several dual matches this year, has accumulated four wins.
On the doubles court, State is led by the 28th-ranked duo of Angus and Stropp, who are coming off an upset of Texas A&M’s 6th-ranked squad of Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow. The duo has won 12 matches in the spring, including their last four contests. The duos of Lakat and Schmid (nine dual match wins) and Agarwal and White (11 dual match wins) close out the Bulldog doubles order.
Chris Simpson, who has been a solid No. 1 for LSU and is ranked 84th nationally, leads the visiting Tigers into the weekend. He is 11-11 in dual matches. LSU also boasts a tandem of ranked doubles teams, with Simpson and Boris Arias (10-6 in the spring) coming in at No. 21 and Eric Perez and Tam Trinh (5-7 in the spring) ranked 75th nationally.
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