No. 14 Bulldogs Sweep Singles In Win Over LSU

STARKVILLE – No. 14 Mississippi State dug an early hole by dropping the doubles point to 45^th-ranked LSU on Friday.

But the Bulldogs more than made up for it by sweeping all six courts in singles and won 6-1 in front of the largest crowd of the season inside the Rula Tennis Pavilion. It was the seventh time this spring that MSU has battled back to win despite losing the doubles point.

“I’m just really happy with how all six courts compete consistently,” said head coach Matt Roberts. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team like this, the way we trust each other every match to fight. They’re going to play every point as tough as they can.”

No. 93 Ewen Lumsden was able to get the Bulldogs on the board with his 6-3, 6-3 win over Welsh Hotard. Lumsden has now won 10 of his last 12 singles matches and 15 of his last 18 since Jan. 22.

Benito Sanchez Martinez followed suit with his 7-5, 6-3 win over George Stoupe and No. 125 Carles Hernandez topped 101^st-ranked Chen Dong 4-6, 6-0, 6-2. It was Sanchez Martinez’s 20^th victory of the season while Hernandez earned his fifth triumph over a ranked opponent and improved to a team-best 22-6 overall.

Gregor Ramskogler lost his opening set 1-6 to Julien Penzlin but persevered in the next two 7-6(5), 6-2 to clinch his eighth career match for Mississippi State.

“Every clinch is awesome, but this one was even more special because that was for sure the best crowd that we’ve had,” Ramskogler said. “There were some times when they erupted that I thought the roof was going to collapse. They were extremely loud and a lot of people stuck around for a very long time. That just made it even more special. I tried to do it for them, and it feels good.”

Following the clinch, Petar Jovanovic prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6) over Stefan Latinovic and No. 118 Nemanja Malesevic finished off the singles sweep against 78^th-ranked Ronald Hohmann 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. It was Malesevic’s team-leading seventh singles win over a ranked foe this season and 17^th of his career.

The Bulldogs began the day with a doubles win by Jovanovic and Lumsden, downing Hotard and Latinovic 6-2. However, LSU (11-9, 2-8 SEC) evened things when Dong and Stoupe defeated Ramskogler and Sanchez Martinez 6-1 and Hohmann and took the point when Hohmann and Watson edged the newly-formed team of Malesevic and Michal Novansky.

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