Tennessee Falls to No. 8 Mississippi State, 4-3

Friday, March 22

Starkville, MS

4 PM

University of Tennessee

#8 Mississippi State

March 22, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The 19th-ranked Tennessee men's tennis team fell in a heartbreaker, 4-3, to No. 8 Mississippi State at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Center on Friday night.

Tennessee (11-6, 2-4 SEC) battled with Mississippi State for every game throughout the night. The Vols lost a hard-fought doubles point, falling on courts two and three. The Bulldog duo of 4th-ranked Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini defeated the Vols' Martim Prata/Adam Walton on court two, 6-3.

Over on court three, the combo of Pat Harper/Scott Jones has been clicking for Tennessee and they continued to do so on Friday as they gave the Bulldogs everything they could handle. In the end however, Mississippi State's Trevor Foshey/Gregor Ramskogler narrowly edged the Vols, 7-6 (7-4).

On center court, No. 31 Timo Stodder/Preston Touliatos battled 8th-ranked Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic from Mississippi State to a 6-6 (6-4) match that went unfinished. The Tennessee duo saved two set points with the Bulldogs serving at, 6-5 (40-30), to force the tiebreak and were leading to tiebreak, 6-4, when the match ended.

In singles, 66th-ranked Stodder fell to No. 2 Borges, 3-6, 3-6, on number one while over on court five Touliatos lost to Foshey, 2-6, 4-6, as the Bulldogs took a commanding, 3-0, lead in the match.

The Volunteers battled back with No. 87 Walton winning at number two, 6-4, 6-4, knocking off No. 94 Oradini. The match win is Walton's third-straight victory over a ranked opponent. The Home Hill, Australia native is now 12-2 in dual matches this season.

The rally continued on court four as Luca Wiedenmann took the first set over Rakic, 7-6 (7-5) in a tiebreaker and was then victorious in the second set, 6-4, to win the match. With the match win, UT cut into the Mississippi State lead and trailed, 3-2, with matches still being contested on courts six and three.

Playing in his first match singles since February 24, Andrew Rogers squared off with Florian Broska. Rogers won the first set decidedly, 6-3. Broska battled back in the second and forced a tiebreaker which Rogers won, 7-6 (10-8), taking the match and tying the match score at 3-3.

However, the Bulldogs escaped with the win as Braun defeated Jones on court three, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, giving Mississippi State the, 4-3, victory.

QUOTES: "This one hurts," assistant coach James McKie said. "Not many teams come to Starkville and win. We had them on the ropes but couldn't quite execute down the stretch. However, I believe our guys now realize just how good they truly are, but now we must rebound and get ready for a good Ole Miss team in Oxford."

On Andrew Rogers and Adam Walton
"We are very proud of Andrew Rogers for going in and getting a big win on six and Walton is playing lights out and proving week in and week out he's one of the best players in the country."
UP NEXT: Tennessee will stay on the road with a Sunday matchup against No. 33 Ole Miss on Sunday, March 24. First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET.

BOX SCORE
No. 19 Tennessee 3, No. 8 Mississippi State 4
Singles
1. #2 Nuno Borges (MS) def. #66 Timo Stodder (UT) 6-3, 6-3
2. #87 Adam Walton (UT) def. #94 Giovanni Oradini (MS) 6-4, 6-4
3. Niclas Braun (MS) def. Scott Jones (UT) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
4. Luca Wiedenmann (UT) def. Strahinja Rakic (MS) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
5. Trevor Foshey (MS) def. Preston Touliatos (UT) 6-2, 6-4
6. Andrew Rogers (UT) def. Florian Broska (MS) 6-3, 7-6 (10-8)

Doubles
1. #8 Borges/Rakic (MS) vs. #31 Stodder/Touliatos (UT) 6-6 (4-6), unfinished
2. #4 Braun/Oradini (MS) def. Prata/Walton (UT) 6-3
3. Foshey/Ramskogler (MS) def. Harper/Jones (UT) 7-6 (7-4)

Order of Finish: Doubles (2, 3); Singles (1, 5, 2, 4, 6, 3)