March 9, 2012
ATHENS, Ga. --- The No. 6 Georgia men's tennis team defeated 12th-ranked Mississippi State Friday afternoon, rallying from a loss of the doubles point to snag four consecutive straight-set singles wins en route to a 4-3 victory over the other Bulldogs at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Georgia improves to 12-1 on the season and 3-0 in SEC play, dropping MSU to 11-4 (2-1).
"Mississippi State is a great team," said head coach Manuel Diaz. "We played pretty good in doubles, they just outplayed us. Give a lot of credit to them. They played impeccably at No. 1. Our guys came out after our meeting before singles - we lit a fire and I was really impressed with the way they came out. We got four straight-set wins and this is a great win for us."
Mississippi State came out hot in doubles, winning 8-4 on courts 1 and 3 to take the early lead. First off court, however, was Georgia's No. 2 team of Nathan Pasha and Sadio Doumbia, who defeated Georgia Coupland and Artem Ilyushin 8-5. But MSU responded with the win at No. 1 as 23rd-ranked Malte Stropp and Louis Cant downed Ignacio Taboada and Hernus Pieters. State then claimed the point with the win at No. 3 as Zach White and Ethan Wilkinson defeated Wil Spencer and KU Singh.
Georgia evened things in singles as Taboada cruised to a fast 6-2, 6-2 win over 37th-raned Cant at No. 4, before UGA took a 2-1 lead with a win for 11th-ranked Doumbia, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 3. The Bulldogs then pushed their lead to 3-1 when Pasha downed Antonio Lastre by a 6-0, 6-3 score at the six spot, and the clinch came from Singh at No. 2 as he took down James Chaudry 6-2, 6-3.
Mississippi State had won its first sets on the remaining two courts - Nos. 1 and 5. With the win already sealed up for Georgia, Coupland defeated Pieters on court five by a score of 7-6(4), 6-3 to make it 4-2, and MSU pulled it to 4-3 as No. 27 Ilyushin beat Spencer at No. 1, 6-4, 7-5.
Georgia improves to 51-11 all-time vs. MSU and has now won 10 in a row in the series. Today marked the Bulldogs' fifth win of the season over a top-25 team.
Georgia is back in action here on Sunday, welcoming Ole Miss for a 1 p.m. match-up at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The Rebels defeated Tennessee today in Knoxville.
#6 Georgia 4, #12 Mississippi State 3
Singles competition
1. #27 Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def. #3 Wil Spencer (UGA) 6-4, 7-5
2. #35 KU Singh (UGA) def. James Chaudry (MSU) 6-2, 6-3
3. #11 Sadio Doumbia (UGA) def. #75 Malte Stropp (MSU) 6-2, 6-0
4. #43 Ignacio Taboada (UGA) def. #37 Louis Cant (MSU) 6-2, 6-2
5. #41 George Coupland (MSU) def. #47 Hernus Pieters (UGA) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
6. Nathan Pasha (UGA) def. Antonio Lastre (MSU) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #23 Malte Stropp/Louis Cant (MSU) def. Ignacio Taboada/Hernus Pieters (UGA) 8-4
2. Nathan Pasha/Sadio Doumbia (UGA) def. George Coupland/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) 8-5
3. Zach White/Ethan Wilkinson (MSU) def. Wil Spencer/KU Singh (UGA) 8-4
Match Notes:
Mississippi State 11-4 (2-1); National ranking #12
Georgia 12-1 (3-0); National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,3,6,2,5,1)
Official: Walt Williams T-3:28 A-433
