#37 MSU Tennis Falls In Close One At #24 Vandy
The loss, State's ninth in a row, dropped the Bulldogs to 7-12 overall, 2-9 in SEC play. Vandy improved to 14-10, 6-5. It was Vandy's second straight win in the series after losing 19 consecutive to MSU.
Vanderbilt got out to the early 1-0 in the match by posting victories at the top two positions in doubles. State's duo of Romain Ambert and Matt Armstrong salvaged an 8-3 win at the No. 3 spot over Commodores Nathan Sachs and Greg Sossaman.
In singles, State would come out firing and position itself for what looked to be a comeback win, taking the first set in four of the six matches. MSU would also split sets in the two matches where Vanderbilt had gained the early advantage. But Vandy would ultimately take four matches that went three sets to get the team victory.
Bulldog sophomore Florent Girod tied the match at 1-1 with a solid 6-3, 6-1 win over Sachs at the No. 5 position. Vandy regained the lead at 2-1 when 64th-ranked Matt Lockin downed MSU's Max Fomine 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-2 at No. 4. MSU knotted the score again, this time at 2-2, when rookie Arnaud Roussel finished off a 6-2, 7-6(5) triumph over Lewis Smith at the bottom position.
The top three positions would all go three sets and Vandy's strength in those spots would prove to be too strong, as the Commodores claimed all three to close out the team victory. At the No. 3 position, 76th-ranked Commodore Zach Dailey bested MSU's Luiz Carvalho 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 to put the ?’Dores up 3-2. VU's 65th-ranked Scott Brown then notched a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 comeback win over Jose-Carlos Pinto at No. 2 to clinch the team victory. The final match of the day saw Vandy's 24th-ranked Chad Harris hold off four match points to secure a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 triumph over the 31st-ranked Ambert at No. 1. The first set was the first Ambert had been able to take since problems with his ankle started in mid-March.
"Once again, I thought we played pretty well, but just didn't quite get the win," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "We didn't give in after losing doubles and really came out and played well early in singles to give ourselves a chance.
"I know it sounds a little strange to say when your on a streak like we are on right now, but we really feel like we are getting back to where we were at the beginning of the year when we were 7-3. Romain, still playing at just 50 percent, is getting better every day and is totally putting his heart into each match. And the rest of the guys are competing hard against good players. If we can carry these things into the SEC tournament, we can have some success there."
State will return to the Music City this weekend (April 22-25), for the 2004 SEC Championship. State, seeded 11th, will meet 15th-ranked and sixth-seeded Tennessee Thursday in first-round play at a time to be announced. MSU dropped a close 4-3 decision to the Vols in Starkville on March 21.
#24 VANDERBILT 5, #37 MISSISSIPPI STATE 2
DOUBLES - #46 Scott Brown/Chad Harris (VU) def. Luiz Carvalho/Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) 8-3; Zach Dailey/Lewis Smith (VU) def. Max Fomine/Florent Girod (MSU) 8-4; Romain Ambert/Matt Armstrong (MSU) def. Nathan Sachs/Greg Sossaman (VU) 8-3.
SINGLES - #24 Harris (VU) def. #31 Ambert (MSU) 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3; #65 Brown (VU) def. Pinto (MSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; #76 Dailey (VU) def. Carvalho (MSU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-1; #64 Lockin (VU) def. Fomine (MSU) 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-2; Girod (MSU) def. Sachs (VU) 6-3, 6-1; Arnaud Roussel (MSU) def. Smith (VU) 6-2, 7-6(5).
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)