OXFORD – Fresh off its win over No. 19 Florida to open SEC play, 18th-ranked Mississippi State returns to the courts against instate rival Ole Miss on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Bulldogs enter the match with the best record in the Southeastern Conference at 12-1 and have two top 20 wins to their credit. MSU knocked off No. 15 Florida State 4-3 on the road on Feb. 12 and followed it up with a 5-2 home victory over the Gators on Thursday.
Matt Roberts‘ squad is riding a seven-match winning streak with a pair of ranked singles competitors and a ranked doubles tandem. Freshman Petar Jovanovic comes in at No. 107 having won 14 of his last 16 singles matches while 113th-ranked Carles Hernandez has been victorious in 12 of his last 14 outings.
Hernandez is also one-half of the No. 33 doubles team alongside partner Nemanja Malesevic. Together they have won six straight matches, including a 6-3 victory to clinch the doubles point against 31st-ranked Will Grant and Axel Nefve of Florida on Thursday.
Mississippi State has claimed three of the last five meetings against Ole Miss but fell 5-2 to the Rebels in Starkville last spring.
Ole Miss heads into the weekend having won five-straight matches and ranked 59th nationally. Saturday’s match will be the initial conference match for the 8-2 Rebels, who defeated St. John’s 5-2 in Oxford on Thursday.
No. 68 Nickola Slavic is the only ranked Rebel on the roster with a 6-2 dual match record and a 10-6 overall mark. Isac Strömberg is also the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week and has a 7-2 record this spring.
For more information on the Bulldog men’s tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for “HailStateMT” on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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