#14 Netmen Host #22 LSU Sunday To Start Critical Four-Match Homestand
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State's 14th-ranked men's tennis team returns home Sunday for the first time in nearly a month to host 22nd-ranked LSU in the first match of a four-match homestand that will end the Bulldogs' 2005 regular season schedule. Match time is set for 1 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre on the MSU campus.
MSU, 11-4 overall and 6-1 in the Southeastern Conference, ended a five-match road swing Friday, posting a 5-2 win at Arkansas. During the extended road trip, State went 4-1, including upsets of Auburn and Georgia, and climbed from 26th nationally to its current position of No. 14 in the country.
State, off to its best overall and SEC starts since 1998 when it opened that season 13-2, 6-1 in conference play, is currently tied for second in the league overall and first in the SEC West with fourth-ranked, arch-rival Mississippi, who rallied from a 3-1 deficit to down LSU 4-3 on Friday in Oxford. Ninth-ranked Florida leads the league at 7-0 after completing a 4-3 win over No. 8 Georgia Saturday morning in a match that was suspended due to rain late Friday.
LSU will bring 13-7 overall and 1-6 SEC marks into Sunday's match. The Tigers started the season 10-1, but have dropped six of their last nine contests, due in large part to a difficult start to its SEC slate. In its first seven league matches, LSU has faced five current top 20 teams, three in the top 10.
The Bulldogs and Tigers have met 35 times in recorded history, with LSU holding a 26-8-1 advantage on State. The Tigers have won six of the last seven clashes between the schools.
MSU is led by junior Florent Girod, who has gone undefeated (13-0) in dual match singles play this spring. Not far behind him is true freshman Pierre Mouillon who has won nine consecutive decisions to stand at 11-2 overall. Rookie Philippe Frayssinoux is a combined 8-3 in singles and doubles in SEC contests. Sophomore Arnaud Roussel is 5-1 in singles, four of those wins proving to be match-clinchers for State this year. In doubles, Bulldogs Luiz Carvalho and Jose-Carlos Pinto are ranked 22nd nationally.
LSU has three players currently ranked in the top 85 nationally, led by sophomore Ken Skupski, who is 12th. Junior Mark Growcott, ranked 84th, upset Mississippi's third-ranked Catalin Gard Friday. The Tigers also have two top 40 doubles duos. Growcott and Skupski pair to form the nation's sixth-ranked tandem.
"LSU is just another example of how deep the SEC is," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "They have been ranked in the top 10 this season, but the SEC schedule has been very unkind to them so far. They are a much better team than their ranking right now. I know it's becoming an old saying from me, but we will have to be extremely prepared for this match."
Following Sunday's matchup, State will welcome league-leading Florida (April 8, 2 p.m.) and No. 34 South Carolina (April 10, 1 p.m.) next weekend as part of Super Bulldog Weekend activities. The Bulldogs then wrap up their '05 regular season schedule on Saturday, April 16, hosting rival Mississippi at 1 p.m.