No. 20 MSU Tennis Closes Regular Season Against No. 24 LSU Sunday
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Looking to rebound from a tough 4-3 setback Friday in Nashville, the 20th-ranked Mississippi State men’s tennis team (17-6, 8-3 SEC) closes out its 2015 regular season at home against No. 24 LSU (16-6, 6-5 SEC) on Sunday, April 12. Due to the possibility of inclement weather Sunday afternoon, first serve has been moved up to 10 a.m. CT at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
State will be going for its sixth win against the Tigers in the last seven meetings. LSU took the last meeting during the 2014 SEC Championships in Nashville. Live stats can be found at www.HailState.com.
Sunday is also Senior Day for the Bulldogs, where Tassilo Schmid will be honored for his passion and dedication to the Maroon and White. He has eight singles victories this year, with two of those wins coming in SEC play, including the clinching victory against No. 13 Ole Miss. Schmid has 19 singles victories for his two-year career. Schmid has been most dominant on the doubles court with 28 wins, including 23 in dual matches.
Leading the way for MSU in singles has been the pair of Rishab Agarwal and Mate Cutura. Agarwal has a team-best 16 dual match wins and 22 overall wins, while currently riding a nine-match winning streak. The sophomore is also a perfect 7-0 in SEC play. Cutura, who has been named SEC Player of the Week the past two weeks, is 12-4 this spring and 8-1 in SEC play.
No. 73 Florian Lakat remains at the top of the MSU lineup with a 12-6 record this spring, all coming at the No. 1 position. Four of the sophomore’s wins have come against ranked opponents, including a season-high win against UGA’s No. 31 Austin Smith last weekend.
Juan Cruz Estevarena is 10-4 this spring after earning his 10th dual match win on Friday. Fellow freshman Julian Cash is 7-5 in dual matches and has 11 wins for the 2014-15 year.
MSU continued its dominant ways in doubles Friday and has now captured the match’s opening point 18 times this year. State is 14-4 in 2015 when capturing doubles play.
The 15th-ranked duo of Cash and Lakat moved to 7-1 after their defeat of UGA’s No. 1 team of Austin Smith and Ben Wagland last weekend. The win was the highest ranked victory since 2013, when State’s Malte Stropp and Jordan Angus defeated Auburn’s No. 1 tandem of Dan Cochrane and Andreas Mies.
Cutura and Schmid have found themselves back in the winner’s circle as of late, going 13-3 this spring and 16-4 for the 2014-15 season. The duo has won their last three contests. Rounding out the doubles order is the team of Estevarena and Robin Haden, who are 7-4 this spring after winning six of their last seven matches.
No. 24 LSU looks to rebound from a 4-0 loss to No. 7 Texas A&M on Thursday in Baton Rouge. No. 74 Jordan Daigle and No. 121 Chris Simpson have been the leaders for the Tigers this spring, with Daigle going 9-4 and Simpson 14-4 in spring play. Daigle also teams up with Boris Arias to make the 23rd-ranked doubles squad in the nation, going 8-4 in dual matches.
Following Sunday’s regular-season finale, the Bulldogs will turn their attention to College Station, Texas, and the 2015 SEC Championship, April 15-19. State will learn its seeding for the conference tournament Sunday following its match against LSU.
For more information on Mississippi State men’s tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateMT.