MSU Set For SEC-Big-12 Challenge

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., – Mississippi State men’s tennis team heads across the state line on Friday for their final tournament of the fall.

But the Bulldogs will be playing for far more than simply school pride. MSU will be one of three teams representing the Southeastern Conference in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge at the University of Alabama.

The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide will be joined by South Carolina as they battle Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech during the round robin event this weekend.

Each school will have a team of two players and will start each day with doubles. Those doubles pairings will then break off and play singles against those same opponents with each match counting as one point for their respective conference.

“It’s pretty cool to play in something like this,” said graduate Gregor Ramskogler. “I knew it existed for basketball and it’s definitely cool to play for something that’s bigger than just your school and play for the whole conference.”

Mississippi State is set to face the Cowboys at noon on Friday and meet the Red Raiders on Saturday at 10 a.m. The Bulldogs will wrap up the event against the Sooners on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.

Ramskogler will be accompanied by redshirt senior Patrick Lazo and freshmen Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic. MSU plans to debut some new doubles pairings during the tournament as they continue to prep for what should be a promising spring season.

“My thought process is to just keep getting repetitions of what I’ve done in practice and what I’m working towards which is staying aggressive, trusting myself and playing points the right way,” Ramskogler said. “I think that’s kind of similar for the whole team. We need to keep building individually in pressure situations.”

For more information on the Bulldog men’s tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for “HailStateMT” on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.