State Netmen Continue Hot Streak; Down 'Bama 5-2 To Go 4-0 In SEC
State's 9-3 mark is its best 12 matches into a season since the 1998 NCAA semifinal team started 10-2, and the Bulldogs' 4-0 SEC mark is the best league opening since 1997 when MSU started 6-0 in the conference. The win marked State's third in its last four meetings with Alabama, which dropped to 5-8, 0-4 in the SEC.
MSU gained first point of Sunday's match by sweeping doubles action, only the second time this season the Bulldogs had claimed all three doubles contests. In singles, Alabama put pressure on the Bulldogs early, but State would eventually claim the first three matches complete in straight sets to clinch the victory.
Florent Girod maintained his spotless 2005 dual match record while upping State's lead to 2-0. The junior from Belfort, France, registered a 6-1, 6-1 triumph over the Crimson Tide's R.J. Murray at the No. 5 position to improve to 10-0 in team singles play this season. The Bulldogs gained a 3-0 lead in the contest when rookie Pierre Mouillon took a close first set from UA's Billy Mertz at No. 4 and then rolled on to a 7-5, 6-0 win, his sixth in a row.
The match clincher would come at the No. 6 spot, where State sophomore Arnaud Roussel rallied from a 4-1, first-set deficit to best the Tide's Andrew Felsenthal 6-4, 7-6(3).
Alabama would claim two of the last three matchups on the day. UA's 73rd-ranked Luigi D'Agord edged MSU's Luiz Carvalho at the No. 1 position 6-4, 7-5 and Eric Molnar pulled out a 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 win over Bulldog Jose-Carlos Pinto at No. 3. In the last match of the day, State sophomore Ivan Bjelica came back from losing the first set 6-1, to upset UA's 99th-ranked Joseph Jung 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Bulldog true freshman Philippe Frayssinoux, who had been plagued with the flu most of the week and was out of the lineup in State's upset of No. 20 Auburn Friday, returned to the doubles lineup Sunday, but did not play singles.
"This was another excellent win for our team," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "Alabama has struggled a little this season but they have been very close in every match they have lost lately. To beat any SEC team on the road is an accomplishment and we are happy to get out of here with a victory. Now we will practice some during the spring break holiday and then take some time off before getting back into the schedule in two weeks.
"I am very proud of the way our guys have worked and fought during the past few weeks. We are beginning to become the team I knew we could be going into the year. The season is far from over, but we have done about as well as we can do to this point. We look forward to continuing the season in a couple of weeks."
State now has a two-week break from competition before it continues its current five-match road swing through the SEC. Following the break, MSU travels to No. 6 Georgia (March 25), No. 21 Tennessee (March 27) and No. 49 Arkansas (Apr. 1). MSU then returns home Apr. 3 to host No. 17 LSU to start a four-match homestand that will end the regular season.
#26 MISSISSIPPI STATE 5, #50 ALABAMA 2
DOUBLES - #32 Luiz Carvalho/Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) def. Luigi D'Agord/Eric Molnar (UA) 8-6; Philippe Frayssinoux/Florent Girod (MSU) def. Jordie Kindervater/Billy Mertz (UA) 8-2; Ivan Bjelica/Pierre Mouillon (MSU) def. Joseph Jung/R.J. Murray (UA) 9-8(2). SINGLES - #73 D'Agord (UA) def. Carvalho (MSU) 6-4, 7-5; Bjelica (MSU) def. #99 Jung (UA) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5; Molnar (UA) def. Pinto (MSU) 6-0, 4-6, 6-0; Mouillon (MSU) def. Mertz (UA) 7-5, 6-0; Girod (MSU) def. Murray (UA) 6-1, 6-1; Arnaud Roussel (MSU) def. Andrew Felsenthal (UA) 6-4, 7-6(3).
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)