No. 42 MSU Men?s Tennis Closes Road Trip At No. 39 Auburn
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Looking to rebound from their first Southeastern Conference loss on Friday at No. 18 Florida, the 42nd-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs (11-4, 2-1 SEC) will face the No. 39 Auburn Tigers (11-5, 1-3 SEC) on Sunday, March 15, at AU’s Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Set for a 1 p.m. CT first serve, the contest will be the last in a quick two-match road trip for the Maroon and White. MSU fell in a 4-1 decision on Friday in Gainesville. Live stats for the MSU-AU contest can be found at www.AuburnTigers.com.
The Bulldogs will be gunning for their seventh win in the last eight meetings with the Tigers. MSU split a pair of matches with the Tigers last season after winning five straight against AU dating back to the 2010 season.
Sophomores Rishab Agarwal and No. 112 Florian Lakat have paced the Bulldogs in singles play so far this year. Agarwal leads the way with a team-high of 10 victories this spring, capturing eight of those at the No. 5 spot. Lakat is 9-3 in dual match play while standing atop the MSU lineup.
Newcomers Juan Cruz Estevarena and Mate Cutura have also been solid contributors to State’s singles attack. Estevarena is 8-1 this spring, splitting the wins between the No. 2 and 3 spots. Cutura, who captured the lone singles win for MSU on Friday, is 6-3.
Senior Tassilo Schmid, ranked 105th nationally, has earned three wins this season while playing mainly at the third position in the lineup recently. Reigning SEC Freshman of the Week Julian Cash is 3-2 this spring after winning two of his last three contests.
MSU will look to rebound after their streak of taking the doubles point was snapped at 10 on Friday. When the Bulldogs are successful in capturing the match’s opening point, they’ve been nearly flawless, going 10-2.
The 46th-ranked duo of Cash and Lakat are 3-0 at the No. 1 position after making their spring debut last weekend against No. 55 Arkansas and Nicholls State. The duo picked up MSU’s only doubles victory on Friday, a 6-2 win against UF’s Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin.
State’s tandem of Cutura and Schmid suffered their first loss of the spring on Friday after starting the spring 10-0. The team has picked up nine of those wins while playing at the second spot in the order.
Rounding out the doubles order is the team of Estevarena and Robin Haden, who are 1-3 this spring.
Leading the Tigers is a trio of ranked singles competitors. At No. 59, Lukas Ollert is 10-3 this spring while playing mainly at the top of the order. No. 103 Maxime Hinnisdaels is 10-2 in dual match competition and leads AU with a 23 wins for the 2014-15 campaign. No. 121 Marko Krickovic has nine victories this spring while splitting time at the two and three spots.
In doubles, Auburn is paced by the 3-1 team of Krickovic and Oliver Plaskett. Hinnisdaels and Dante Saleh are 3-5 this spring, while Ollert and Joseph Van Dooren are 6-3.
Following Sunday’s match, MSU will return home to the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre for a three-match home stand. The Bulldogs will host No. 9 Texas A&M on Friday, March 20, at 5 p.m., and then No. 33 LSU on Sunday, March 22, at 1 p.m. State will close the stretch at Pitts with a Wednesday, March 25, meeting with in-state rival No. 13 Ole Miss at 3 p.m. (rescheduled from earlier this season).
For more information on Mississippi State men’s tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateMT.