Live StatsSTARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Samford University men's tennis team will square off against its second nationally-ranked opponent in as many matches Saturday at noon (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their arduous early-season schedule versus the No. 28-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs in a non-conference test to be held at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
Samford (0-1) heads into the match with hopes of rebounding from a season-opening loss at No. 36-ranked Alabama on Jan. 19.
In the Bulldogs' 6-1 setback held at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Tennis Facility, Alabama jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by sweeping the doubles competition. In singles play, the Crimson Tide extended its advantage to 5-0 with straight-set victories on courts No. 4, No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6.
Samford's
Austin Akers proved to be triumphant in the No. 2 singles matchup versus Alabama. Against Stuart Kenyon, the Bulldogs' senior native of Lexington, Kentucky, trimmed the Tide's lead to 5-1 as he registered a dominant 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Akers concluded the 2014 dual-match season with a 7-10 singles record and will lead the Bulldogs this year as the team's lone senior.
Mississippi State (5-2) also enters Saturday's contest with aspirations of bouncing back from a tough loss against a nationally-ranked opponent.
On Sunday, Mississippi State was upset by No. 42 Texas Tech, 4-2, at McCarthy Gymnasium.
With singles playing first, the Bulldogs found themselves down 3-0 early after dropping a pair of tough three-set decisions and a straight-set affair. Mississippi State would rally to within one, but could not complete the comeback to force doubles play.
Texas Tech's early run began on court No. 2 where No. 63 Tassilo Schmid and the Red Raiders' Hugo Dojas battled in a three-setter.
After dropping the first set 6-1, Schmid fired back to force a third with a 6-2 decision. Play went down to the wire, as Schmid rallied back from a triple break point late to force a deuce point, but could not hold, suffering a break that led to a 6-1, 6-2, 7-5 victory for Dojas to give Texas Tech the first point of the day.
Looking to even the score, Mississippi State's Florian Lakat pushed his match against No. 28 Felipe Soares to a third set after taking a tiebreaker in the second frame, 7-6(3). Soares would hold on though, using a 4-0 run out of the gate in the third to take the match 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3 at the top spot.
The Red Raiders would push their lead to 3-0 when Jolan Cailleau downed Mississippi State's Rishab Agarwal 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 4 position.
One point away from defeat, the Bulldogs began to swing momentum, earning two-straight victories to draw within one.
Juan Cruz Estevarena put together some of the best shots of the year to date, holding off Texas Tech's Alex Sendegeya 6-0, 6-7(1), 7-5 at No. 3. Mate Cutura, playing at the No. 5 spot on Sunday, got back on the winning track, dominating Tech's Francisco Zambon 6-2, 6-1 with some stellar shots throughout his contest.
Needing one point to force doubles play, Mississippi State turned to sophomore Robin Haden at the No. 6 spot in the lineup. Despite an excellent fight and some exciting match point saves late by Haden, Tech's Connor Curry was able to hold on for a 6-4, 6-4 victory to give the Red Raiders the win after six hours and 21 minutes of action.
In 2014, Samford also played at Mississippi State and dropped a 7-0 decision to the ninth-ranked Bulldogs.
With last season's loss, Samford fell to 3-11 all-time against the Bulldogs. SU has been defeated in seven straight matches with Mississippi State and the Bulldogs have not been victorious in the rivalry since 1975.
Following Saturday's huge non-conference matchup at No. 28-ranked Mississippi State, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Wednesday at 11 a.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the Jacksonville State Gamecocks to the Samford Tennis Center for a home-opening, in-state duel.
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