No. 6 Mississippi State Faces No. 5 Virginia in NCAA Quarterfinal Clash

Thursday, May 14

Athens, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mississippi State

Virginia

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No. 6 Mississippi State Faces No. 5 Virginia in NCAA Quarterfinal Clash

May 13, 2026 | Men's Tennis

By: Tad Couch, Mississippi State Athletic Communications Student Intern

Thursday, May 14 at 6 p.m. CT
Athens, Ga. | Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Match 31
No. 6 Mississippi State (5) vs No. 5 Virginia (4)
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STARKVILLE – No. 6 Mississippi State returns to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the second consecutive season and will face No. 5 Virginia after the Cavaliers defeated the Bulldogs 4-1 earlier this season at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
Mississippi State enters the match after NCAA Tournament victories over Tennessee Tech, Wisconsin and Georgia. Virginia advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over Rider, Columbia and South Carolina.
The Bulldogs won the doubles point in the previous meeting between the teams on Feb. 14. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez defeated Dylan Dietrich and Stiles Brockett 7-5 on court one, while Mario Martinez Serrano and Michal Novansky earned a 6-3 victory over Mans Dahlberg and Jangjun Kim on court two.
The Cavaliers claimed the opening set on all six courts and went on to clinch four singles matches to secure the victory.

Mississippi State Notes
• The Bulldogs claimed back-to-back Super Regional victories with a 4-1 win over Georgia, Saturday.
• Mississippi State swept Tennessee Tech and Wisconsin in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament
• Benito Sanchez Martinez is the only player in the nation to be raked in the top nine 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 237 wins at the helm.
• Sanchez Martinez has played 47 consecutive singles matches on court one.
• 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. 9, 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 1,132-649-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Jovanovic has 96 career doubles wins, making him second-most all-time. He sits one win away from Laurent Miquelard's (1992-95) total of 97.
• Jovanovic now has 66 career dual match doubles wins, breaking Gregor Ramskogler's total of 64 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, six behind Nuno Borges' tally of 81.

Mississippi State in the ITA Rankings
Team Ranking – 6th
Singles
No. 9 – Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 13 – Petar Jovanovic
No. 65 – Mario Martinez Serrano
No. 93 – Niccolo Baroni
No. 120 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes

Doubles
No. 9 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 19 - Michal Novansky and Benito Sanchez Martinez

Series History vs. Virginia
• State faced Virginia at ITA Indoors this season and fell 4-1.
• Mississippi State is 0-3 all-time versus the Cavaliers.

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