No. 27 Tennessee Edges No. 29 MSU Netmen 4-3
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Despite winning the opening doubles point, Mississippi State's 29th-ranked men's tennis team was unable to use the early lead to its advantage Sunday, eventually falling to 27th-ranked Tennessee 4-3 in a hard-foughtmatch at MSU's A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
Sunday's setback dropped State's record to 7-5 overall, 2-2 in Southeastern Conference action. UT improved to 9-4, 2-2. The Vols now lead MSU 25-11 in the series in recorded history (since 1969), 13-5 in Starkville.
In doubles, UT actually gained the early edge, winning 8-1 at the No. 3 spot, but MSU would rally to claim the final two matches. At No. 2, 49th-ranked Bulldogs Romain Ambert and Florent Girod notched a remarkable win, coming back from a 5-0, three-service break deficit to claim a 9-7 win over UT's 47th-ranked team of Mark Dietrich and Wade Orr. At the top spot, MSU's Luiz Carvalho and Jose-Carlos Pinto then took a heated battle from Vols Simon Rea and Damien Spizzo, finally posting a 9-8(6) tiebreak victory to give State the first point.
But singles would be a much different story, as Tennessee claimed the first set in five of the six matches to position itself for the team win. MSU's top player Ambert, ranked 13th nationally, sat out singles play for the second straight outing, still battling an ankle injury.
UT tied the score at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph provided by Dietrich over MSU freshman Arnaud Roussel at the No. 5 spot. The Vols gained a 2-1 lead when the 79th-ranked Orr bested Bulldog rookie Romain Provenzano 6-3, 6-2 at the bottom position in the lineup. Ockie Oosthuizen upped the lead to 3-1 when he downed MSU's Max Fomine 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3.
The Bulldogs got their first point of singles action at the top position, where the sophomore Pinto registered a 7-6(4), 6-1 win over Rea, ranked 42nd in the country. It marked the highest ranked win of Pinto's career.
In the final two matches of the day, UT had claimed the first set in both contests, and was up a service break in both in the second set as well, before MSU made a late charge to even things. After State's Carvalho had broken serve to tie the score at 5-5 at the No. 2 spot, UT's Spizzo answered with a break of his own and held off the MSU junior's comeback attempt for a 6-4, 7-5 win that clinched the team win for the Vols.
In the last match of the day, MSU's Girod rallied to post a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Vol Kiril Tcherveniachki at the No. 4 spot. It marked only the fourth loss for the UT freshman this season while the Bulldog sophomore won for the eighth time in his last nine outings.
"I was very proud of our guys' effort today," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. ?Tennessee is a very talented team and we had chances to beat them. It was tough without Romain in there for us in singles, but the rest of the team really stepped up. There were some positives today. We worked hard to win the doubles point. Jose-Carlos had one of his biggest wins so far. And Florent continued the great play he has been having this season.
"Now, we just have to get Romain healthy and focus on the remainder of the season. We have our last home match against Arkansas this weekend, another team that will be tough to beat."
The Bulldogs and 24th-ranked Razorbacks will meet this Friday, March 26, at 2 p.m. at the Pitts Tennis Centre. It will be Senior Day for Bulldogs Ambert, Matt Armstrong and Fomine.
#27 TENNESSEE 4, #29 MISSISSIPPI STATE 3
DOUBLES -- Luiz Carvalho/Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) def. Simon Rea/Damien Spizzo (UT) 9-8(6); #49 Romain Ambert/Florent Girod (MSU) def. #47 Mark Dietrich/Wade Orr (UT) 9-7; Ockie Oosthuizen/Ben Rogers (UT) def. Matt Armstrong/Max Fomine (MSU) 8-1.
SINGLES -- Pinto (MSU) def. #42 Rea (UT) 7-6(4), 6-1; Spizzo (UT) def. Carvalho (MSU) 6-4, 7-5; Oosthuizen (UT) def. Fomine (MSU) 6-1, 6-4; Girod (MSU) def. Kiril Tcherveniachki (UT) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Dietrich (UT) def. Arnaud Roussel (MSU) 6-4, 6-2; #79 Orr (UT) def. Romain Provenzano (MSU) 6-3, 6-2.
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)