MSU's Ambert To Begin Play In NCAA Singles Championship Wednesday
The senior Ambert, ranked 37th nationally, will face Florida State's 27th-ranked junior Mat Cloer at 11 a.m. CT Wednesday in first-round action of the 64-player field. The two players have never met during their collegiate careers.
A native of Toulouse, France, Ambert earned his fourth career appointment to the NCAA singles field this year, making him only the second Bulldog netter ever to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship four times. The other was all-American Matthieu Ballay, who accomplished the feat from 1996-99. Ambert is 19-18 overall this year and has been ranked as high as No. 4 nationally. He is currently No. 37 due to an ankle injury that hampered his ability to compete at 100 percent for much of the spring semester.
Named the Atlantic Coast Conference's Player of the Year, Cloer is 20-12 overall in 2003-04. He is making his second career NCAA singles appearance after falling in the first round of the tournament last season.
A two-time, all-American and four-time, all-Southeastern Conference selection, Ambert will be closing out one of the most successful careers in MSU tennis history at this week's NCAAs. He is 98-48 overall in singles during his four seasons in Starkville, winning nearly 70 percent of his matches while facing the nation's top competition in many of those contests. He stands sixth all-time at MSU when tallying singles and doubles victories, having notched 167 total wins.
Ambert's participation in the NCAA singles draw marks the 16th-straight season MSU has had a singles or doubles qualifier for the NCAA Individual Championships.