State Netmen Drop Heartbreaker To #16 Arkansas
Arkansas gained a 1-0 advantage, winning the doubles point over State.The first completed match was at the #3 court where UA¹s Taylor King andColin Mascall defeated State's Ryan Farlow and Philippe Frayssinoux 8-3. TheRazorbacks clinched the point when the 39th-ranked tandem of Blake Strodeand Adrians Zguns knocked off MSU¹s duo of Florent Girod and Pierre Mouillon8-3. The match on court #1 was suspended with UA's Rohan Gajjar and MattRoberts leading Bulldogs Ivan Bjelica and Jose-Carlos Pinto 6-3.
Four of the six singles matches reached a third set before the outcomewas decided. The Bulldogs evened the match at 1-1 when Bjelica knocked off13th-ranked Zguns 7-5, 6-3 on the #1 court. The second match completed wasat the #6 spot where Razorback Michael Jung rallied from a set down to beatMSU's Farlow 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 and give UA a 2-1 lead. State then evened thematch once again at 2-2 when Mouillon overcame 49th-ranked Roberts 4-6,6-1, 6-3.
With the match in the balances, the team win hinged on court #3 andcourt #4. The first completed was at the #4 spot where the Razorback's102-ranked Strode outbattled State's Florent Girod 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to giveArkansas a 3-2 lead. On court #3, UA's 74th-ranked Rohan Gajjar defeatedState's Pinto in a close 7-5, 7-5 match, giving the clinching fourth pointto the Razorbacks. Shortly after the match had been clinched, MSU'sFrayssinoux rallied from a set down and defeated UA's Mascall 3-6, 7-6(3),7-6(2) which snapped a seven match losing streak.
The Bulldogs (4-9, 1-6) loss is only the second in the last 17 matcheswith Arkansas. With the win, Arkansas moved to 13-6 on the season andimproved their Southeastern Conference record to 4-3. Zguns was the highestranked player that Bjelica has beaten in his career. Bjelica has now wonthree straight matches and improved to 4-3 in SEC play. Mouillon is now 10-3in dual matches this season with his win at the #2 court.
State's next action will come Sunday when they travel to Baton Rouge,La. to take on 19th-ranked LSU. The Tigers are coming off a win over10th-ranked Mississippi on Friday. The match is set to begin at 1 p.m. CT atLSU's Dub Robinson Stadium.
#16 Arkansas 4, #57 Mississippi State 3
3/31/06
STARKVILLE, Miss.
Doubles - King/Mascall (UA) def. Farlow/Frayssinoux (MSU) 8-3; Strode/Zguns(UA) def. Girod/Mouillon (MSU) 8-3; Bjelica/Pinto (MSU) vs. Gajjar/Roberts(UA) 3-6, susp.
Singles - Ivan Bjelica (MSU) def. #13 Adrians Zguns (UA) 7-5, 6-3; PierreMouillon (MSU) def. #49 Matt Roberts (UA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; #74 Rohan Gajjar(UA) def. Jose-Carlos Pinto (MSU) 7-5, 7-5; #102 Blake Strode (UA) def.Florent Girod (MSU) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5; Philippe Frayssinoux (MSU) def. ColinMascall (UA) 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(2); Michael Jung (UA) def. Ryan Farlow (MSU)4-6, 6-1, 6-0.