Cash And Lakat Earn NCAA Doubles Bid, All-American Status
STARKVILLE, Miss. – A day removed from earning a bid to their fifth-straight NCAA Team Championship, the 18th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs landed a pair of players in the 2015 NCAA Individual Championships, the NCAA announced on Wednesday.
Julian Cash and Florian Lakat, the eighth-ranked duo in the nation, will represent the Bulldogs in the NCAA doubles draw as a 5-8 national seed, making them the 22nd and 23rd ITA All-Americans in school history. The at-large bid into the field gives State its fifth NCAA doubles selection in the last six years.
Cash and Lakat are MSU’s first ITA All-Americans since the 2013 season and the first Bulldogs to be named All-Americans in doubles since Marco Baron and Charles Sevigny in 2000.
The duo put on impressive performances in both the fall and the spring, moving up the ITA National Doubles Rankings throughout the year. After posting an 8-3 ledger in the fall and capturing the USTA/ITA Southern Region Doubles Championship, the duo joined back together midway through the spring to post another 8-3 showing with a 7-1 record in SEC play. All eight dual match victories came on the Bulldogs’ top court.
Highlighting their spring were three Top 25 wins, including a pair of Top 10 wins against No. 9 Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant of Texas A&M and No. 1 Austin Smith and Ben Wagland of Georgia.
The duo has been a mainstay in the ITA Top 30 for most of the year, only dipping out of that range twice. Cash and Lakat have jumped up to as high as No. 7 in the country.
Lakat may also join the NCAA Singles Championship’s field of 64, as he was named fourth alternate to that draw on Wednesday as well. He competed in the field as a freshman last season.
MSU’s sole member of the 2015 All-SEC First Team, Lakat has put together a 17-9 record for the year and a 14-6 ledger in the spring. All of Lakat’s matches have come at the No. 1 position in State’s lineup. Six of Lakat’s wins have come against ranked opponents, with his highest against Georgia’s No. 31 Smith.
“It’s a great honor for these guys to represent Mississippi State on this big of a stage,” MSU coach Matt Roberts said. “I’m very proud of what Julian and Florian have done this season and all the hard work they have put in top earn All-American status. That’s a great honor for those guys and for this program.”
The NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will begin May 20 in Waco, Texas, at the Mark Hurd Tennis Facility following the conclusion of the NCAA Team Championship finals played from May 14-19.
The singles and doubles brackets will be released at the conclusion of the NCAA Team Championship.
The Bulldogs open play in the NCAA Team Championship next Friday, May 8, meeting Denver in the first round in Chapel Hill, N.C.
For more information on Mississippi State men’s tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateMT.