STARKVILLE – Mississippi State women’s tennis team dropped its Southeastern Conference opener to Kentucky 5-2 on Friday.
MSU (10-2) picked up a pair of singles victories on the afternoon. Gia Cohen earned her seventh singles win of the spring following a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Elizabeth Stevens. The match marks her fourth straight singles win.
Dharani Niroshan also earned a tight three set victory over the Wildcat Makayla Mills. Niroshan took the first set 6-4 but fell in the second. She persevered and took the third set 7-5.
Emmanouela Antonaki took the first set against 73rd-ranked Florencia Urrutia. She ultimately fell to her Wildcat opponent, losing 7-6(3), 6-2 in sets two and three.
Bulldog Alexandra Mikhailuk lost in straight sets to Ellie Eades 6-4, 6-4 as did Chloé Cirotte to Lidia Gonzalez 6-2, 6-3. No. 66 Maria Rizzolo fell to Zoe Hammond 6-4, 6-0.
Kentucky (6-3) also took the doubles point to start the match. Cohen and Maria Rizzolo were the only Bulldogs tandem to pick up a win against Kentucky, defeating the Wildcat duo Gonzalez and Urrutia, 7-6(3). The Wildcats tandem of Mills and Stevens took down Antonaki and Cohen 6-4, while Eades and Hammond cliched the point with their 7-5 win over Mikhailuk and Niroshan.
“We have to have a great practice tomorrow and we just need to be fired up,” head coach Daryl Greenan said. “We can’t let one loss hurt and bring us down, we just need to be fired up for Sunday.”
Mississippi State is back at home on Sunday, March 5 to take on No. 18 Vanderbilt at 1 p.m.
No. 58 Kentucky 5, No. 69 Mississippi State 2
A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre | Starkville, Miss.
March 3, 2023
Doubles
1. Makayla Mills/Elizabeth Stevens (UK) def. Emmanouela Antonaki/Chloé Cirotte (MSU) 6-4
2. Ellie Eades/Zoe Hammond (UK) def. Alexandra Mikhailuk/Dharani Niroshan (MSU) 7-5
3. Gia Cohen/Maria Rizzolo (MSU) def. Lidia Gonzalez/Florencia Urrutia (UK) 7-6 (7-3)
Order of finish: (1,3,2)
Singles
1. #73 Florencia Urrutia (UK) def. Emmanouela Antonaki (MSU) 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
2. Gia Cohen (MSU) def. Elizabeth Stevens (UK) 6-2, 6-4
3. Ellie Eades (UK) def. Alexandra Mikhailuk (MSU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Lidia Gonzalez (UK) def. Chloé Cirotte (MSU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Zoe Hammond (UK) def. #66 Maria Rizzolo (MSU) 6-4, 6-0
6. Dharani Niroshan (MSU) def. Makayla Mills (UK) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5
Order of finish:…
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