#20 Bulldog Netmen Oust Arkansas 4-0 To Open SEC Tourney; Face #9 Host Georgia Friday
MSU's win Thursday upped its record to 12-8 overall in 2005.Arkansas fell to 5-16. State now leads the series with the Razorbacks18-5, 2-0 this year. Since the SEC tournament went to the team format in1990, State has now reached at least the quarterfinals in 13 of those 16years.
State came out strong in Thursday's contest, claiming theopening doubles point for the first time in seven matches. GrabbingMSU's first win of the day was the true freshman duo of PhilippeFrayssinoux and Pierre Mouillon, who notched an 8-3 win over RazorbacksMichael Jung at Andrei Nicoara at the No. 3 position. The State tandemof Ivan Bjelica and Jose-Carlos Pinto soon followed with an 8-3 win oftheir own, upsetting UA's 57th-ranked team of Rohan Gajjar and AdriansZguns at No. 1. The No. 2 match was suspended with MSU serving at 5-6.
MSU took a 2-0 advantage when junior Florent Girod took a quick6-3, 6-1 victory from Nicoara at the No. 6 singles position. Girodimproved his team-leading record in dual matches this season to 15-3with that win. The Bulldogs went up 3-0 in the contest thanks to a 6-4,6-2 victory from the senior Carvalho, who downed Ismail by that marginat the No. 5 spot.
The match-clincher would come from the rookie Mouillon. Theholder of State's best SEC record this season, the native of Le Perreux,France, upped his dual match mark to 14-4, upending Arkansas'97th-ranked Matt Roberts 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3.
The three remaining matches were suspended at that point.Arkansas held a one-set lead in each of those affairs.
"We came out strong today in doubles and then took care ofbusiness in singles," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "This matchwould have been a lot closer had we not played well in doubles and takenthose three singles matches in straight sets. The guys did a good job ofclosing out those wins.
"Now, we obviously have a tough challenge against Georgiatomorrow. They are never easy to beat in Athens anyhow, and it gets eventougher during tournament time. It will take another great effort fromour team."
Georgia is 16-5 overall this season and went 8-3 in SEC playduring the regular season. Its only home loss in 12 matches this yearcame to State on March 25, when MSU broke UGA's 21-match home winningstreak in a 4-3 upset. The teams have met eight previous times in theSEC Championship, with Georgia owning a 6-2 edge in those contests. Theonly time the schools have met in the event in Athens was in 1993, withUGA claiming a 4-3 decision in the finals.
#20 MISSISSIPPI STATE 4, #70 ARKANSAS 0
DOUBLES - Ivan Bjelica/Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) def. #57 RohanGajjar/Adrians Zguns (UA) 8-3; Luiz Carvalho/Florent Girod (MSU) vs.Imraan Ismail/Matt Roberts (UA) 5-6, susp.; Philippe Frayssinoux/PierreMouillon (MSU) def. Michael Jung/Andrei Nicoara (UA) 8-3.
SINGLES - Bjelica (MSU) vs. #55 Gajjar (UA) 5-7, susp.;Frayssinoux (MSU) vs. Zguns (UA) 6-7(2), 3-2, susp.; Mouillon (MSU) def.#97 Roberts (UA) 6-2, 6-4; Pinto (MSU) vs. Jung (UA) 4-6, 4-2, susp.; Carvalho (MSU) def. Ismail (UA) 6-4, 6-2; Girod (MSU) def. Nicoara (UA)6-3, 6-1.
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)