No. 16 MSU Meets No. 2 TCU In Round of 16

FORT WORTH, Texas – Mississippi State men’s tennis is not a stranger to the Round of 16 stage at the NCAA Championships.

The Bulldogs have reached Round of 16 at the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in the last five years and 16 times overall. No. 16 MSU – the tournament’s 15^th seed – will meet second-ranked TCU on Saturday at 3 p.m. for a shot to play in the quarterfinals in Orlando, Florida next week.

“We’re feeling pretty loose and they’re going to have a lot of pressure on them at home,” said MSU coach Matt Roberts. “We’re feeling healthy mentally and physically so we’re going in there playing loose and going to see if we can play unreal doubles. The doubles point will be huge. We’re playing some really good tennis in some spots so it’s definitely doable. It’s going to be a battle.”

The Bulldogs (21-7) have already proven they can beat a team the caliber of TCU. State took down then No. 2 South Carolina 5-2 on March 19 and have earned four victories over top 20 opponents this season.

“We just have to believe and go out there and give it our best on all six courts,” said junior Nemanja Malesevic.

Malesevic is Mississippi State’s highest-ranked singles competitor at No. 78 and has played atop the lineup all season. He is also one-half of both of the Bulldogs’ ranked doubles tandems alongside Carles Hernandez and Michal Novansky at No. 68 and No. 81, respectively.

MSU also features No. 95 Ewen Lumsden, No. 120 Hernandez and No. 123 Petar Jovanovic in its singles lineup. Hernandez and Benito Sanchez Martinez top the team with 20 dual match singles wins this season with Jovanovic and Lumsden close behind at 19 victories apiece.

TCU enters the Fort Worth Super Regional at 24-2 with both losses coming to top-ranked Texas. The Horned Frogs are riding a four-match winning streak and are 11-1 at home this season.

TCU sports five ranked players in singles spearheaded by No. 17 Luc Fomba. Joining Fomba are Jake Fearnley (21), Sander Jong (62), Jack Pinnington (71) and Sebastian Gorzny (92). Fearnley and Fomba also make up the nation’s No. 2 doubles duo while Jong is half of two ranked teams with Lui Maxted (22) as well as Pinnington (84).

Mississippi State and TCU are certainly familiar with one another. The two teams have met four times since 2019, including an indoor match last…