No. 20 MSU Men?s Tennis Closes Out Road Slate At No. 21 Vanderbilt
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Hitting the homestretch of the 2015 regular season, the 20th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs (17-5, 8-2 SEC) close out regular season road play at No. 21 Vanderbilt (16-6, 6-4 SEC) on Friday, April 10.
First serve is set for 5 p.m. CT at VU’s Currey Tennis Center. The Bulldogs will be going for their sixth-straight victory this season and their fifth win in the last six meetings with the Commodores. All-time, MSU is 36-12 against Vanderbilt and 15-8 in Nashville.
Live stats can be found at www.VUCommodores.com.
State will be playing in Nashville for the second-straight season. Last year, the Bulldogs came from down 3-1 to defeat the Commodores, 4-3. The win catalyzed a five-match winning streak down the stretch of the 2014 season for MSU.
Last weekend the Bulldogs earned two impressive wins, highlighted by an impressive 4-2 upset over the No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs. Combined with a 4-1 defeat of No. 45 South Carolina, State improved its SEC record to 8-2, which is the best since going 9-2 in the league in 2012. With a pair of wins this weekend, State can finish with a 10-2 SEC record, the best posting in the league since going 10-3 in 1998.
Leading the Bulldogs last weekend was Mate Cutura, who went 4-0 in singles and doubles, earning him SEC Player of the Week honors for the second-straight week. Cutura, who entered the ITA National Rankings for the first time in his career at No. 96, is 18-7 for the year and 12-3 this spring. The Bulldog junior is riding an eight-match winning streak and leads the SEC with a perfect 8-0 record in conference play.
Rishab Agarwal leads the Bulldogs with 15 victories this spring and 21 for the overall season and currently is riding an eight-match winning streak as well.
No. 73 Florian Lakat remains at the top of the MSU lineup with a 12-5 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 Friday.
Juan Cruz Estevarena is 9-4 this spring, being a solid contributor for the Bulldogs at the No. 2 position. Fellow freshman Julian Cash is 7-4 in dual matches after picking up a 6-2, 6-2 win against South Carolina’s Sam Swank last weekend.
Senior Tassilo Schmid has earned four wins this season while playing mainly at the No. 3 position in the lineup. Two of those wins have come in SEC play, including the clinching victory against No. 13 Ole Miss.
MSU returned to its dominant ways in doubles last weekend and have now captured the match’s opening point 17 times this year. State is 14-3 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. 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 found themselves back in familiar territory over the weekend, snapping a three-match skid to earn a pair of wins. The duo is 12-3 this spring and 15-4 for the 2014-15 season. Rounding out the doubles order is the team of Estevarena and Robin Haden, who are 6-4 this spring after winning five of their last six matches.
No. 21 Vanderbilt looks to win its fourth match in the last five contests. The Commodores had last weekend off, but took down South Carolina in its last match. Gonzales Austin, ranked ninth nationally, is 17-1 in dual matches and 29-5 for the 2014-15 season. Daniel Valent joins Austin in the rankings, coming in at No. 83 with a 15-2 record this spring.
In doubles, Vandy has the second-ranked team in the nation in Austin and Rhys Johnson. The duo is 14-3 this spring and 30-6 for the overall year. Pen Binet and Baker Newman, who have tallied a 4-5 record in dual matches, are ranked 75th nationally.
State will close out the regular season with a Senior Day match against No. 24 LSU this Sunday, April 12, at the Pitts Tennis Centre at 1 p.m. That contest was rescheduled from earlier in the season due to rain.
For more information on Mississippi State men’s tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateMT.