No. 12 MSU Wrapping Up Regular Season At No. 4 Georgia

ATHENS, Ga., – No. 12 Mississippi State men’s tennis team is set to wrap up its regular season on the road as they travel to No. 4 Georgia on Thursday at 8 a.m. CT.
 
The matchup between the Bulldogs was originally scheduled for Friday afternoon but was bumped up due to expected inclement weather.
 
MSU heads into its regular season finale at 19-5 overall, 7-4 in conference play and riding a three-match winning streak. State has defeated eighth ranked opponents this season, four of which were ranked in the top 20 at the time of the match.
 
Georgia is the second team Mississippi State has faced inside the top five this season. MSU achieved the highest-ranked win in program history on March 19 when it knocked off then No. 2 South Carolina 5-2 in Starkville.
 
MSU is coming off a pair of 6-1 wins over then No. 45 LSU and No. 60 Arkansas at home last weekend.
 
Half of Mississippi State’s singles lineup is currently in the ITA rankings. Ewen Lumsden enters Thursday’s match at No. 95 and has won 11 of his last 13 singles matches and 16 of his last 19 since Jan. 22. No. 104 Nemanja Malesevic has clinched six matches for State and tops the team with seven ranked victories in singles.
 
No. 112 Carles Hernandez leads the team with a 23-6 overall record on the year and makes up one-half of the 57^th-ranked doubles team alongside Malesevic. Lumsden is paired with Petar Jovanovic as the No. 82 doubles duo and are 7-2 together in dual match play this spring.
 
Georgia sits atop the SEC standings at 10-0 and is 16-5 overall. UGA has won 11 straight with its last loss coming to third-ranked TCU 5-0 at the ITA Team Indoors in Chicago on Feb. 18.
 
Georgia’s singles lineup also features a trio of ranked competitors in No. 3 Ethan Quinn, No. 19 Philip Henning and No. 105 Blake Croyder. Quinn also makes up half of the No. 5 doubles pairing with Trent Bryde.
 
Hernandez and Malesevic downed the then 18^th-ranked team Bryde and Henning 6-2, 7-5 in the Round of 32 at the ITA Fall National Championships in San Diego, California in November.
 
UGA claimed a 5-2 win against MSU in Starkville last season. State claimed the doubles point and Gregor Ramskogler topped Croyder, who was ranked 76^th at the time, in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-1.
 
For more information on the Bulldog men’s tennis program, visit HailState.com or…