No. 30 Lady Bulldogs Grab Three Postseason Awards Before Taking On LSU
State's Zsuzsanna Fodor took home first-team all-SEC accolades after an outstanding season in which she compiled a 34-7 record during both the fall and spring seasons. Just this spring, the former Budapest, Hungary product posted a 14-3 showing, 8-3 in the league and played an instrumental park in the Lady Bulldogs' march to the SEC Western Division championship.
"Zsuzsi is without a doubt one of the best players in the league and is extremely deserving of the awards she accomplished," head coach Tracy Lane said. "She has excelled on the court with such grace and has set such a fine example of what it takes to be among the best."
Next up for the first-year player was the SEC Freshman of the Year award. In just her first year in the SEC, Fodor was nationally ranked every week for 13 straight weeks, having been ranked no lower than 28th and as high as 15th, her current national ranking.
"It's an amazing feeling to win all those awards," Fodor said. "I never imagined I would win something. I couldn't have done it without my coaches and teammates because they always support me."
Fodor notched her third award of the night as she and fellow doubles teammate Anastasia Kugakolova were named to the second-team all-SEC doubles team. Having played at the No. 1 position in every doubles match this season, the duo finished the regular season with 13-3 showing, 8-3 in the league. The tandem has won eight of their last 10 conference matches and at one point had won seven consecutive matches within the league including an upset win over Georgia's seventh-ranked combo of Robinson and Basu.
"Nastja is also an individual who is deserving of being recognized within the league," Lane said. "Her performance and intensity on a daily basis warrants the award she received. She is a true team player and without a doubt leaves it all out on the court."
The Lady Bulldogs next set their sights on turning their SEC Western Division championship into an SEC Tournament championship as the 30th-ranked Lady Bulldogs return to the court Thursday morning to take on the 42nd-ranked LSU Lady Tigers in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
State earned the No. 8 seed after an outstanding season in which the Bulldogs posted an 11-6 overall record, the most wins for head coach Tracy Lane since the 2000 season. MSU finished 5-6 within the SEC, tying a school all-time high and the most conference wins for Lane during her stint at MSU. LSU finished the regular season with a 12-10 overall record, 4-7 in the league, resulting in the No. 9 seed for the tournament. The two SEC West rivals kickoff the 2005 tournament with their 9 a.m. match Thursday morning at the Alabama Tennis Complex on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa.
"We are really looking forward to the upcoming weekend," Lane said. "We start out with a really tough LSU team that we beat at their place, so I look for it to be another challenge for our players."
LSU owns a 24-7 all-time series advantage over MSU, but the Lady Bulldogs won the last meeting in impressive fashion. In that match, the Lady Bulldogs fell behind 3-2, but battled back to take the last two singles matches to garner the 4-3 come from behind win April 3 in Baton Rouge. In singles, the Lady Bulldog sophomore Fodor etched her name in the MSU record books as she record her 32nd singles win of the year, passing Andrea Lord's 31 for tops on the school's all-time singles wins in a season list. The former Budapest, Hungary, product has won her last two singles matches and in 14-3 in dual matches this season. The 15th-ranked Fodor posts an 8-3 record in the SEC with her three losses coming to fellow top 25 players.
State and LSU last met in the SEC Tournament during the 2001 season, the last time the tournament was held in Starkville on the MSU campus. In that match the Lady Bulldogs ousted the Lady Tigers 4-1 in the tournament's first round.
If the Lady Bulldogs advance past LSU, State will next play No. 1 seeded Kentucky on Friday morning at 9 a.m. The Wildcats are ranked third in the country and are 10-1 inside the SEC. UK was a perfect 10-0 until last weekend when Vanderbilt upset the Wildcats 4-3 in Lexington.