No. 2 Seed Mississippi State Set for Quarterfinal Matchup vs. No. 7 Seed South Carolina

Friday, April 17

Bryan-College Station, Texas

2 p.m.

Mississippi State

South Carolina

No. 2 Seed Mississippi State Set for Quarterfinal Matchup vs. No. 7 Seed South Carolina

April 16, 2026 | Men's Tennis

2026 SEC Bracket Championship Central

By: Tad Couch, Mississippi State Athletic Communications Student Intern

Friday, April 17 at 2 p.m. CT
Bryan-College Station, Texas | Mitchell Tennis Center
Match 25
No. 6 Mississippi State (2) vs No. 13 South Carolina (7)
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BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 6 Mississippi State will face No. 13 South Carolina in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday, April 17 at 2 p.m. CT at Mitchell Tennis Center.

Mississippi State enters as the No. 2 seed and earned a double-bye into the quarterfinal round, while South Carolina, the No. 7 seed, advanced after a 4-1 win over Ole Miss in the second round.

The two teams met earlier this season, with Mississippi State earning a 4-3 road victory. South Carolina won the most recent postseason meeting, defeating the Bulldogs 4-3 in the 2025 SEC Tournament semifinals.

The winner will advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals. To face the winner of LSU and he winner of game five.

Mississippi State Notes
• Benito Sanchez Martinez is the only player in the nation to be raked in the top seven in both singles and doubles.
• Petar Jovanovic set the all-time program wins record with a singles and doubles victory versus Tennessee.
• Head Coach Matt Roberts holds the record for most wins in program history with 232 wins at the helm.
• Sanchez Martinez has played 41 consecutive singles matches on court one.
• The Bulldogs picked up their first top-five victory of the season defeating No. 4 Stanford 4-3 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• All of Mississippi States's conference victories have been over ranked opponents
• Mississippi State opened the 2026 season with four consecutive road wins before returning home to beat Santa Clara and Auburn at the ITA Kickoff Weekend to secure a birth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• The Bulldogs are above .500 at every singles position.
• Five Bulldogs are ranked in the ITA singles rankings, led by Sanchez Martinez at No. 7, the second highest-ranked player in the SEC.
• Seniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez return as ITA Doubles All-Americans, while Jovanovic also earned ITA Singles All-American honors after reaching the NCAA Individual Championships quarterfinals.
• Mississippi State posted 25 wins in 2025, tying the 1979 team for the most single-season victories in program history.
• In 2025, Benito Sanchez Martinez set single-season program records for dual-match wins in both singles and doubles.
• Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez are the winningest doubles pair in program history, surpassing Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic.
• The Bulldogs return eight letterwinners from last season's NCAA quarterfinal squad.
• Mississippi State is in its 102nd season as a program, with an all-time record of 1,127-648-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Jovanovic has 93 career doubles wins, making him third-most all-time. He sits seven wins away from Laurent Miquelard's (1992-95) total of 97.
• Jovanovic currently has 63 career dual match doubles wins. He is just two wins away from breaking Ramskogler's total for the for the most all-time.
• Jovanovic is now 4^th all-time in career singles wins with 107.
• Benito Sanchez Martinez is 2^nd all-time in career dual singles wins, eight behind Nuno Borges' tally of 81.

Mississippi State in the ITA Rankings
Team Ranking – 6th
Singles
No. 7 – Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 9 – Petar Jovanovic
No. 84 – Niccolo Baroni
No. 91 – Mario Martinez Serrano
No. 123 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes

Doubles
No. 6 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 77 - Michal Novansky and Benito Sanchez Martinez

Series History vs. South Carolina
• Mississippi State is 27-14 all-time versus South Carolina
• In the Matt Roberts era, the Dawgs are 11-4 against the Gamecocks
• The Bulldogs hold a 4-3 advantage all-time on neutral courts
• In 2025, the Bulldogs and Gamecocks split wins, State winning the regular season matchup and Carolina in the SEC tournament.

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU Men's Tennis on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateMT"

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