Lady Bulldog Tennis Team Upsets #42 South Alabama Jaguars
With the victory, head coach Tracy Lane has now tied the MSU record for career coaching wins with 68. She is tied with Andy Jackson, current men's head coach at Florida.
MSU took the doubles point to start the match. The Lady Bulldogs' 32nd-ranked duo of Zsuzsanna Fodor and Anastasia Kugakolova defeated Katarina Palenikova and Ana Rupic, 8-2, at the top spot. On court No. 3, the Rudman sisters downed Klara Jarova and Andrea Kurekova in an 8-2 decision. Play at the second spot was suspended with MSU's Polina Kokoulina and Magdi Rekasi leading South Alabama¹s Dijana Stanic and Maria Zivcicova, 7-4.
In singles, Fodor, ranked 26th, was victorious over Kurekova at No. 1, 6-1, 6-1. With her win, she increased her record to 25-4 on the season, leaving her tied for fifth on the MSU all-time list for singles wins in a season. She is tied with Jackie Holden and Carole Soubis.
St. Petersburg, Russia, native Kugakolova also won her match, defeating Zivcicova, 6-4, 7-5, and clinching the match for the squad at the second position. Freshman Kokoulina won her match, 6-2, 6-4, against Rupic at No. 4. Senior Magdi Rekasi defeated Dominika Nemcovicova in a hard fought battle at the fifth spot, 7-6(10), 4-6, 13-11.
Tarryn Rudman fell, 6-4, 7-5, to Palenikova at No. 3, and Renée Joseph dropped her match to Stanic, 6-4, 6-3, on court six.
Next, the squad returns home to host the Troy Trojans in a 1 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre on Saturday.
#t75th Mississippi State 5, #42 South Alabama 2
Doubles
1. #32 Fodor/Kugakolova (MSU) def. Palenikova/Rupic (USA), 8-2
2. Kokoulina/Rekasi (MSU) vs. Stanic/Zivcicova (USA), 7-4, susp.
3. Rudman/Rudman (MSU) def. Jarova/Kurekova (USA), 8-2
Singles
1. #26 Zsuzsanna Fodor (MSU) def. Andrea Kurekova (USA), 6-1, 6-1
2. Anastasia Kugakolova (MSU) def. Maria Zivcicova (USA), 6-4, 7-5
3. Katarina Palenikova (USA) def. Tarryn Rudman (MSU), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
4. Polina Kokoulina (MSU) def. Ana Rupic (USA), 6-2, 6-4
5. Magdi Rekasi (MSU) def. Dominika Nemcovicova (USA), 7-6(10), 4-6, 13-11
6. Dijana Stanic (USA) def. Renée Joseph (MSU), 6-4, 6-3