No. 29 Arkansas Downs No. 26 MSU Netters
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Despite a solid comeback effort, Mississippi State's 26th-ranked men's tennis team dropped its final home match of the 2004 season in another tight affair Friday afternoon, falling 5-2 to 29th-ranked Arkansas.
With the setback, MSU's record is now 7-6 overall, 2-3 in Southeastern Conference action. Arkansas improved to 11-4, 2-2. It was the first win Arkansas had posted over MSU since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992, breaking a 13-match Bulldog win streak.
Arkansas gained the opening point of the day by taking 8-3 wins at the top two positions in doubles. But the Bulldogs, still without the services of injured senior all-American Romain Ambert (ankle), would secure the first set in four of the six singles matches to give itself a chance to mount rally. UA actually took a 2-0 lead in the match when Rohan Gajjar downed MSU's Max Fomine 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 3 singles position.
State then evened the score at 2-2 when true freshmen Arnaud Roussel and Romain Provenzano each registered straight-set victories at the bottom two spots in the lineup. Roussel was a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Matt Roberts at No. 5, while Provenzano held off Imraan Ismail 6-3, 7-6(6) at No. 6.
But Arkansas would claim close triumphs in the next two matches complete to grab the team victory. At the No. 1 position, 83rd-ranked Razorback Nathan Price held off a second-set challenge from Bulldog Jose-Carlos Pinto, finally claiming a 6-1, 7-6(5) win. The match clincher would come at No. 4, where UA's Matt Simpson overcame a one-set deficit to defeat Bulldog Florent Girod 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In the final match of the day at No. 2, MSU junior Luiz Carvalho had played very well in splitting sets with Arkansas' 10th-ranked Adrians Zguns before retiring at 1-1 in the third, battling an ankle sprain.
"Once again, the guys did a great job of fighting hard in a tough situation," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "With our best player unable to play again, they positioned themselves for a good chance to come back and win this match. Arkansas just won a couple of close matches and that was the difference.
"But they have been doing a good job of stepping and overcoming adversity the past couple of weeks. We just need to continue to do that, focus on getting better, and prepare for the next one."
MSU now hits the road, travelling to meet the 13th-ranked LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge Sunday at 1 p.m. That contest is the first of a six-match road swing that the Bulldogs have to close out the 2004 regular-season campaign.
#29 ARKANSAS 5, #26 MISSISSIPPI STATE 2
DOUBLES - Nathan Price/Matt Simpson (UA) def. Luiz Carvalho/Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) 8-3; Imraan Ismail/Matt Roberts (UA) def. #49 Romain Ambert/Florent Girod (MSU) 8-3; ;Matt Armstrong/Romain Provenzano (MSU) vs. Rohan Gajjar/Adrians Zguns (UA) 6-7, susp.
SINGLES - #83 Price (UA) def. Pinto (MSU) 6-1, 7-6(5); #10 Zguns (UA) def. Carvalho (MSU) 3-6, 7-6(3), 1-1, ret.; Gajjar (UA) def. Fomine (MSU) 6-4, 6-2; Simpson (UA) def. Girod (MSU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2; Arnaud Roussel (MSU) def. Roberts (UA) 6-4, 6-1; Provenzano (MSU) def. Ismail (UA) 6-3, 7-6(6).
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)