March 4, 2018
AUBURN, Ala. - In the SEC season opener for both teams, No. 27 Mississippi State defeated the Auburn men's tennis team 6-1 Sunday afternoon at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville, Miss.
Doubles competition was close early on, but the Bulldogs took the doubles point with victories on courts one (6-4) and three (6-2). In singles, Mississippi State won the first set of all six matches and took straight-set wins on courts one, three and four to clinch the match. The remaining matches were completed; Auburn freshman Lorenzo Rodriguez forced a third-set super tiebreaker on court six, but dropped the tiebreaker 10-7.
In the final match in play, Tiger freshman Matteo De Vincentis forced a third-set super tiebreaker on court two as well, and won that extra set 11-9 to put Auburn on the scoreboard.
Auburn is now 9-6 and 0-1 in SEC play, while Mississippi State goes to 7-1 and 1-0 in the SEC. This was the beginning of a string of seven consecutive matches against ranked opponents for Auburn.
Auburn continues with SEC play at home next weekend, hosting No. 29 South Carolina on Friday at 6 p.m. and entertaining No. 18 Florida Sunday at 1 p.m. All Auburn home matches are held at the Yarbrough Tennis Center (771 Yarbrough Farms Blvd., Auburn), and admission is free.
No. 27 Mississippi State 6, Auburn 1
Singles
Nuno Borges (MSU) def. Edward Nguyen (AU) 6-1, 6-1
Matteo De Vincentis (AU) def. Giovanni Oradini (MSU) 4-6, 7-6, 1-0 (11-9)
Strahinja Rakic (MSU) def. Olle Thestrup (AU) 6-2, 6-4
Niclas Braun (MSU) def. Carles Sarrio (AU) 6-2, 7-5
Florian Broska (MSU) def. Tad Maclean (AU) 7-5, 6-4
Trevor Foshey (MSU) def. Lorenzo Rodriguez (AU) 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 (10-7)
Doubles
Borges/Rakic (MSU) def. Nguyen/De Vincentis (AU) 6-4
Thestrup/Maclean (AU) v Braun/Oradini (MSU) 5-6 unfinished
Broska/Foshey (MSU) def. Sarrio/Diego Chavarria (AU) 6-2
Time of match: 2:55; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1; Singles: 1,3,4,5,6,2