Netmen To Open Play At SEC Championship Thursday Vs. Tennessee
| Senior all-American Romain Ambert and the Bulldog netters begin action against Tennessee at the SEC Championship Thursday in Nashville. |
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State's 39th-ranked men's tennis team opens competition in the 2004 Southeastern Conference Championship Thursday in Nashville, meeting 17th-ranked Tennessee. Match time between the Bulldogs and Volunteers is set for 11:30 a.m. CT at Vanderbilt's Currey Tennis Complex.
State, 7-12 overall, is the No. 11 seed and will be looking to break a nine-match losing streak that dates back to mid-March. The skid has been due, in large part, to the absence of senior all-American Romain Ambert in singles in five of those nine matches. Ambert, currently ranked 35th nationally, has been suffering from an ankle injury since the streak started. Sunday at No. 24 Vanderbilt, he took a set for the first time since March 11 in a loss to 24th-ranked Commodore Chad Harris.
Tennessee will come into the match 13-7 overall. The Volunteers are led by senior Simon Rea, currently ranked 44th nationally in singles. In doubles, Rea and Damien Spizzo form the country's sixth-ranked duo.
In their earlier meeting this season, UT took a close 4-3 decision from MSU in Starkville on March 21. Ambert did not play singles in that match. State is 2-0 against the Vols in two previous meetings between the teams in the SEC Championship, both in the quarterfinals (1991, 1995).
"We are excited about the SEC Championship. Tennessee will be a tough match for us in the first round. They have had some very big wins this season and have a talented top 20 team," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "Even though we haven't won a match recently, we feel like we are playing as good right now as we have since starting the year 7-3. Romain is doing much better with his ankle and is near 100 percent. That really makes a difference in terms of the rest of the lineup, because we are basically at full strength now. If the guys play this weekend like they have the last few matches, we will have a very good chance Thursday."
The winner of the MSU-Tennessee affair will advance to meet third-seeded and 10th-ranked Georgia in Friday's quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m. CT.
Live statistics for the entire 2004 SEC Men's Tennis Championship will be available on Vanderbilt's web site at www.vucommodores.com.