#23 Bulldog Netmen Drop River Hills Cup To #5 Rebels In Fierce Battle
The Bulldogs (1-1) fell to the Rebels (3-0) for the 16th straighttime, the seventh consecutive setback in the River Hills Cup matchup.
The Rebels got off to a solid start Thursday evening with triumphsin doubles. UM grabbed an 8-4 win at the No. 3 position before the pair ofJakob Klaeson and Bram ten Berge clinched the opening point with an 8-6victory over Bulldogs Philippe Frayssinoux and Pierre Mouillon at No. 2.
In singles, UM took a commanding lead in the first three matches oncourt, taking the first set in each. But the Bulldogs would rally to splitsets in two of them, and nearly did so in the other as well. Unfortunately,MSU would not be able to muster a win in any of the three matches, givingthe Rebels the team victory.
Rebel ten Berge, ranked 83rd nationally, was the first off the courtto give UM a 2-0 advantage as he downed MSU's Mouillon 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at theNo. 3 position. Providing a 3-0 lead would be 22nd-ranked Eric Claesson, whoheld off a second-set charge from State's Jose-Carlos Pinto for a 6-3,7-6(5) win. Pinto served for the second frame at 6-5. The match-clincher came at the top spot in the lineup, where Statejunior Ivan Bjelica, ranked 74th nationally, pushed 26th-ranked Rebel ErlingTveit to the limit before dropping a close 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 decision. Play inthe two other matches that were just underway was suspended at that point.
"They got us again, but I was very pleased with the effort from ourteam tonight," MSU head coach Sylvain Guichard said. "Doubles was tough, butwe played better and I liked our performance there. And we had a chance towin all three of the singles matches. Even if we had gotten a couple ofthem, we would have a had a great chances to win this match.
"What we get out of this match tonight is that we know we cancompete head-to-head with the elite teams in the country. The key is goingto be getting our team to start believing that a little bit more as we moveon this season. These results tonight should give us a lot of confidence interms of what we are capable of achieving."
The Bulldogs return to action next weekend, hosting 64th-rankedSouth Alabama on Friday, the 17th, at 2 p.m. Next weekend's matchup withTulane that was slated for Sunday, the 19th, has been cancelled and will notbe rescheduled.
#5 MISSISSIPPI 4, #23 MISSISSIPPI STATE 0
DOUBLES - Ivan Bjelica/Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) vs. #40 EricClaesson/Erling Tveit (UM) 4-6, susp.; Jakob Klaeson/Bram ten Berge (UM)def. Philippe Frayssinoux/Pierre Mouillon (MSU) 8-6; Juan Pablo DiCesare/Robbye Poole (UM) def. Ryan Farlow/Florent Girod (MSU) 8-4.
SINGLES - #26 Tveit (UM) def. #74 Bjelica (MSU) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5; #22Claesson (UM) def. Pinto (MSU) 6-3, 7-6(5); #83 ten Berge (UM) def. Mouillon(MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Frayssinoux (MSU) vs. #43 Di Cesare (UM) 3-3, susp.;Girod (MSU) vs. Poole (UM) 1-0, susp.; Farlow (MSU) vs. Klaeson (UM) - didnot start.
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)