Mississippi State
Alabama
No. 41 MSU Men?s Tennis Blanks Alabama To Start SEC Play
February 28, 2015 | Men's Tennis
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – In a rematch of last weekend's 4-3 thriller at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic, the 41st-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs (9-3, 1-0 SEC) easily handled the Alabama Crimson Tide (2-8, 0-1 SEC) 4-0 in the conference opener on Friday night.
State used an exciting doubles performance coupled with a fine-tuned singles showing to turn back the Crimson Tide in the first match of SEC play. The win marked the sixth-straight for the Bulldogs against the Tide and moved MSU's all-time record against UA to 31-24 (14-11 in Tuscaloosa).
The win also gave State its fifth-straight SEC opener win and head coach Matt Roberts his first career SEC win.
“We've been working on everyone competing at 100 percent all the time and today we had that complete showing across the board,” Roberts said. “When you have all nine spots committed, good things will happen.”
Much like the Blue Gray match last weekend, the doubles point came down to a tight battle on court two, with MSU's 46th-ranked duo of Mate Cutura and Tassilo Schmid using late heroics to pull off the win.
Julian Cash and Robin Haden threw the first punch on court three, earning the match's first break to seal a 6-4 win against UA's Stuart Kenyon and Nikko Madregallejo. The win moved the duo to 5-1 this season and gave Haden his first-career SEC doubles win.
Alabama struck back on court one, where its No. 26 duo of Korey Lovett and Becker O'Shaughnessey defeated MSU's Juan Cruz Estevarena and Florian Lakat 6-4.
All eyes would then turn to court two, where UA's Sean Donohue and Danny Kerznerman had just held to take a 5-4 lead. Cutura and Schmid would quickly jump back in front for good, holding and then breaking to take a 6-5 lead. Cutura and Schmid would withstand a UA rally and hold serve, taking a 7-5 victory and putting MSU up 1-0. The win moved the MSU duo to a perfect 8-0 this spring and 11-1 on the overall year.
The win also sealed the doubles point for the eighth-straight match for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs kept the momentum rolling into singles play, taking five first sets to the Crimson Tide's one. After Rishab Agarwal (court six) and Estevarena (court three) took their first sets 6-2 and 6-3, respectively, the four remaining courts would enter tiebreak play.
MSU would take the first set in three of those matches, starting with a 7-6(3) win on court one from No. 114 Lakat. A 7-6(4) victory on court five from Cash and a 7-6(4) win on court three from No. 97 Schmid gave State its five first sets.
Cutura would drop his opening frame on court four in a tiebreaker, 7-6(4).
The tiebreakers would not stop after the flurry of deciders in the first set. Agarwal would enter one on court six with UA's Hayes Brewer, finding themselves tied at 3-3. Agarwal would pull away from there, giving MSU the 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory.
No. 114 Lakat would keep the MSU momentum rolling, turning away the Tide's Lovett 7-6(3), 6-4 on court one to put the Bulldogs one point away from victory.
The clincher would come from senior No. 97 Schmid, as he handled the second set to down UA's O'Shaughnessey 7-6(4), 6-4, giving State its seventh shutout of the season, the most since the program record of 12 in 1979.
Matches on courts two, four and five were suspended at the clinch. Estevarena was up 6-3, 5-4 on court two, while Cutura was down 7-6(4), 4-5 on four. Play for Cash was heading to a third set on court five.
With the win, State is now 8-2 this season when capturing the doubles point.
“We're trying to get these guys where they need to be as players and as a family,” Roberts said. “As the season goes, it's a constant learning experience. If you want to be a good team, you have to train at a 100 percent and carry that over into the match. That's what these guys did. Now we're 1-0 in the SEC and ready to get back to work to keep this going.”
State will now return home to face in-state rival, No. 10 Ole Miss. First serve is set for 5 p.m. CT, on Thursday, March 5, at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
For more information on Mississippi State men's tennis and updates, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateMT.
No. 41 Mississippi State 4, Alabama 0
February 27, 2014 – Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility – Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Doubles
1. No. 26 Korey Lovett/Becker O'Shaughnessey (UA) def. Juan Cruz Estevarena/Florian Lakat (MSU) 6-4
2. No. 46 Mate Cutura/Tassilo Schmid (MSU) def. Sean Donohue/Danny Kerznerman (UA) 7-5
3. Julian Cash/Robin Haden (MSU) def. Stuart Kenyon/Nikko Madregallejo (UA) 6-4
Singles
1. No. 114 Lakat (MSU) def. Lovett (UA) 7-6(3), 6-4
2. Estevarena (MSU) vs. Kerznerman (UA) 6-3, 5-4(susp.)
3. No. 97 Schmid (MSU) def. O'Shaughnessey (UA) 7-6(4), 6-4
4. Madregallejo (UA) vs. Cutura (MSU) 7-6(4), 4-5(susp.)
5. Cash (MSU) vs. Kenyon (UA) 7-6(4), 3-6(susp.)
6. Rishab Agarwal (MSU) def. Hayes Brewer (UA) 6-2, 7-6(3)
Order of finish… Doubles (3,1,2)… Singles (6,1,3)
Players Mentioned
