No. 44 State Women?s Tennis Set For SEC Road Swing
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Following a thrilling 4-3 win against No. 42 Auburn on Wednesday, the 44th-ranked Mississippi State women’s tennis team will conclude the regular season with a three-match road swing, starting this weekend with Tennessee on Friday and No. 5 Georgia on Sunday.
Friday’s match at Tennessee is slated for a 3 p.m. CT start, while Sunday’s tout at Georgia is set to begin at 12 p.m. CT. Live stats will be provided for both matches on utsports.com and georgiadogs.com. Friday’s match against UT is also scheduled to be aired on SEC Network +.
Wednesday’s victory against Auburn helped MSU (14-7, 4-6 SEC) snap a four-match losing skid, which included two 4-3 losses and two others to top 15 teams. Six of MSU’s eight players enter the week with 10 wins or more in singles play and all players have earned winning percentages of .500 or better.
Leading the team in dual match wins this season is sophomore Jasmine Lee. Lee, who is currently ranked 56th in the ITA Singles Rankings, improved to 14-3 and 7-3 in the SEC following her win against Auburn’s 68th-ranked Pleun Burgmans at the No. 1 position on Wednesday. The win is also Lee’s fourth against a ranked opponent this season.
Behind Lee, the Bulldogs also have two ranked players at the second and third positions. No. 81 junior Georgiana Patrasc is 13-7 in dual match play this season, while freshman Louise Ronaldson is ranked 124th and is 10-8 in dual matches. Both players earned straight-set wins against Auburn on Wednesday.
State has also seen strong performances from the rest of the lineup, including freshman Jennifer Brown. Brown earned the match clinching victory at the No. 5 position on Wednesday in a dramatic three-set affair, giving her a 12-6 dual match record, with 10 of those wins coming at court five. Sophomores Martina Frantova and Timea Guibe have also played well for the Bulldogs this season, as Frantova has earned an 11-7 mark, while Guibe has collected a 12-3 record and four SEC wins at the No. 6 position.
Since altering the doubles lineup prior to last weekend, the duo of Lee and Ronaldson have started 2-0, including a win against Auburn on Wednesday at the No. 2 position. Anchoring the top slot has been the MSU tandem of Frantova and Patrasc.
Friday’s opponent, Tennessee, enters the weekend with a 10-11 overall record and a 2-7 mark in the SEC, but has won its last two outings. The Lady Vols feature one ranked player in the ITA Singles Rankings, No. 113 Joanna Henderson. Henderson has spent the entire season at the No. 1 position and leads the team with 11 singles wins on the season and four SEC victories. Behind her is reigning SEC Player of the Week, Eve Repic, who is 10-10 on the season at the No. 2 position. Repic is coming off of a match-clinching victory against Arkansas’ Makenzie Craft on Sunday that helped the Lady Vols earn an upset victory against the 46th-ranked Razorbacks in Fayetteville. In doubles, UT is led by the 45th-ranked duo of Henderson and Caitlyn Williams, who have composed an 8-2 record at the No. 2 slot this season.
Meanwhile, fifth-ranked Georgia comes into the weekend at 15-4 and 8-1 in the SEC (t2nd). The Bulldogs have won six straight SEC matches, and most recently earned a 6-0 victory against Missouri on the road last weekend. UGA is led by a slew of ranked players in singles, including eighth-ranked Lauren Herring, who has held down the No. 1 position with an 11-2 record and a 5-1 SEC mark. Behind Herring, 62nd-ranked Ellen Perez has earned a 9-7 dual match record, with eight wins coming at the No. 2 slot. Further down the lineup is 104th-ranked Caroline Brinson, who has composed a 13-2 record in dual match play, including 11 wins at the No. 6 position. In doubles, the 17th-ranked tandem of Silvia Garcia and Kennedy Shaffer leads Georgia, combining for an 11-4 record at the No. 1 position.
For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateWT.