University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
#34 Mississippi State
Vols Lose Close 4-3 Match vs. MSU
March 29, 2015 | Men's Tennis
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Volunteers had two match points late but fell short in a hard-fought 4-3 loss to Mississippi State on Sunday at Barksdale Stadium.
The Vols (11-9, 3-5 SEC) led 3-1 but could not complete the three-set comeback on either courts 2 or 3 to finish.
Sophomore Jack Schipanski had a pair of match points in his final return game on court 3 before losing in a tiebreaker to Mate Cutura 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4).
The action shifted over to Hunter Reese on court 2, who lost his last service game and was defeated by Juan Cruz Estevarena 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-5 a few minutes later as Mississippi State (15-5, 6-2) clinched the match.
Both Vols had lost first sets and came back in the second to give the Vols an opportunity for the clinching point. It was the second 4-3 win this weekend for Mississippi State (15-5, 6-2), which had beaten Kentucky by the same score on Friday.
"I thought Hunter Reese competed as well as he has all year, and Jack the same," Tennessee head coach Sam Winterbotham said. "That's all we ask. We ask them to give what they have for each other. We didn't get the result today that we wanted, but we certainly got everything else we wanted. I've been in this business long enough to know when guys give that kind of commitment, things are going to be good in the long run."
The Vols won the doubles point via victories on courts 2 and 3, but the Bulldogs came out in singles taking four first sets.
Mississippi State briefly tied the match 1-1 when Rishab Agarwal defeated Igor Smelyanski 6-1, 6-2 on court 5.
The Vols answered with two more team points in quick order. After a close first set, Mikelis Libietis reeled off six consecutive games to beat Florida Lakat 7-6, 6-0 at the top of the lineup. The win was the 99th in his career.
Freshman Luis Valero won his third consecutive match and his second against a ranked opponent, beating No. 122 Tassilo Schmid 6-4, 6-3 on court 4.
From there, the match grew tighter. The Vols needed at least one three-set victory to win. Both Reese and Schipanski won the second sets for force a deciding set.
The Bulldogs added a second team point at the bottom of the lineup. Julian Cash defeated Jess Jones in an up-and-down match 7-5, 7-5. Jones came back to tie the match 5-5 in the second set but missed a passing shot on break point and then lost his final service game.
Reese and Schipanski were both up service breaks in the third set, but the Bulldogs came back on both courts.
Schipanski manufactured a pair of match points with Cutura serving at 5-6, 30-40 in the third set. Cutura won the first point with an inside-out forehand winner and then won the following deciding point by taking control off a big first serve from the ad court.
Cutura took a 4-0 lead to start the tiebreaker, and Schipanski could not quite get back on serve.
Reese was two points away from forcing a third-set tiebreaker himself, but Estevarena won the last two points to clinch the win.
"We're going to make adjustments on what we could have done differently from a tactical or technical standpoint, but I feel like this is a big step forward for us," Winterbotham said. "It was a great test, and guys stepped up wanting to be in that arena. I'll take that every day."
Mississippi State 4, Tennessee 3
Singles
1. #16 Mikelis Libietis, UT, def. #108 Florian Lakat, MSU, 7-6 (4), 6-0
2. Juan Cruz Estevarena, MSU, def. Hunter Reese, UT, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-5
3. Mate Cutura, MSU, def. Jack Schipanski, UT, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4)
4. Luis Valero, UT, def. #122 Tassilo Schmid, MSU, 6-4, 6-3
5. Rishab Agarwal, MSU, def. Igor Smelyanski, UT, 6-1, 6-2
6. Julian Cash, MSU, def. Jess Jones, UT, 7-5, 7-5
Doubles
1. #2 Libietis/Reese, UT, vs. #14 Cash/Lakat, MSU, 5-4 unf.
2. Dromsky/Smelyanski, UT, def. Cutura/Schmid, MSU, 6-4
3. Schipanski/Valero, UT, def. Haden/Estevarena, MSU, 6-3
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (5,1,4,6,3,2).
