State's Ambert Earns NCAA Singles Bid For Third Straight Year
Currently ranked 19th nationally, Ambert will be making his third straight appearance in the 64-player singles field. He is only the second Bulldog ever to earn a spot in each of his first three seasons, joining Matthieu Ballay, who accomplished that in 1996, 1997 and 1998.
An all-American last season, the Toulouse, France, native is a three-time, first-team, all-Southeastern Conference selection and was 2002's Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Player to Watch as well. He is 78-29 overall for his career in singles, including a very impressive 31-10 record at the No. 1 position in the lineup.
"Romain definitely has a chance to win the NCAA singles title," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "I don't think there's anybody in the country that would argue that. It will be difficult because we are talking about the best players in the country, but Romain will have as good of a chance as anyone. We look forward to seeing him play for the national singles title."
Prior to his competition in singles, Ambert and the remainder of the Bulldogs have other business to attend to May 10-11 in Nashville, Tenn. It was announced Wednesday that State was selected for the NCAA Team Championship field for the 13th consecutive year. MSU, ranked 39th at present, will face 26th-ranked Pepperdine in the first round on the Vanderbilt campus. The Bulldogs and Waves will square off at 9 a.m. CT on Saturday, May 10, at VU's Currey Tennis Center. Should MSU upset PU, the Bulldogs would then advance to the second round to face the winner of the contest between sixth-ranked host Vanderbilt and Tennessee Tech on Sunday, May 11, at Noon for the right to advance to the round of 16 in Athens, Ga.