STARKVILLE – Mississippi State women’s tennis capped off the second annual John Cade Invitational with five singles victories on Sunday and finished the three-day event against Louisville, Louisiana Tech and Memphis with a tournament-best 21-10 overall record.
The Bulldogs wrapped things up inside the Rula Tennis Pavilion on Sunday by posting a 5-2 record in singles against Memphis, three of which were straight-set victories.
“We fought hard top to bottom and every match – singles or doubles – their hearts were in it and we were really happy about that,” said head coach Daryl Greenan. “We won more close ones than we lost and if everyone keeps fighting the way that we’re fighting then we’re going to be in good shape.”
Emily Surcey secured State’s first win of the day in dominating fashion, downing Carlota Carreter 6-1, 6-1. Maria Rizzolo followed up with a solid 6-2, 6-4 victory against Emily Meyer while Maddie Bemisderfer finished out the tournament with a 7-6(5), 7-5 win over Micah Pierce.
Gia Cohen and Alexandra Mikhailuk fought back from tough first sets to earn two more victories for the Bulldogs. Cohen dropped her first set 6-3 to Monique Woog but bounced back with a 6-2 win in the second and edged out the match in a 7-6(6) tiebreaker.
Mikhailuk fell behind Camila Soares after a 6-2 first set but rebounded to win by the same margin in the second. The senior from Canada concluded the match with a 7-5 third set and finished the tournament with a 5-1 overall record combining singles and doubles.
One of the only blemishes on the Bulldogs’ ledger on Sunday came after No. 52 Emmanouela Antonaki claimed a first set tiebreaker 7-6(6) against Aran Teixido Garcia. The Tiger senior managed to take the next two sets by a score of 6-3 to pull the upset.
Freshman Dhrani Niroshan suffered Mississippi State’s only other loss, falling to Miriam Grossman in a tight 6-4, 7-5 match.
Due to persistent precipitation over the final two days of the tournament, all matches were forced inside the Rula Tennis Pavilion on Saturday and Sunday. The two-year old facility adjacent to the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre has been a godsend for Greenan, who is beginning his 14th season with the Bulldogs.
“It’s great that we have this facility,” Greenan said. “With the rain that we’ve had this weekend, we just would’ve been out of luck if we didn’t…
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