Men?s Tennis Falls on Road to Miss. State
3/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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| Javier Bes |
STARKVILLE, Miss. ?? Despite getting off to a good start by winning the doubles point Sunday, Alabama (4-6, 1-3 SEC) couldn’t hold on to defeat the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, losing 4-3.
MSU (3-4, 1-3 SEC) won three of the first four singles matches to take a 3-2 lead in the match. But the Crimson Tide still had hope of winning the final two matches and claiming the victory. At No. 2, Javier Bes regrouped after losing the first set to Philippe Frayssinoux and forced a third and deciding set. Bes would eventually complete the comeback with a 6-3 win in the third set.
Meanwhile, Joseph Jung found himself locked in a battle at No. 1 with Ivan Bjelica. Down a break in the second set, Jung had a break point but Bjelica came up with a great serve. Bes held his next serve to pull within 5-4, but Bjelica served out for the win and clinched it for MSU.
“We played well in doubles today,” Alabama head coach Billy Pate said, “but we didn’t follow it up early on in singles. We got down before we started to fight back the way we needed to.”
At No. 6 singles the Tide’s Sammy Struyf pulled out his seventh win of the season. Struyf defeated Eric Lim 6-2, 6-4.
Alabama got off to a great start. Javier Bes and Billy Mertz stepped up big at No. 2 doubles with an 8-2. It was Mertz’ and Bes’ first appearance at No. 2 this season after rolling up a 5-0 record at No. 3. Dan Buikema and Andrew Felsenthal played together at No. 3 for the first time in conference play and earned an 8-5 win.
Alabama will travel to Montgomery later this week to participate in the Blue Gray. The tournament will run Thursday through Sunday. Draws will be released later this week.
Miss. State 4, Alabama 3
Doubles
Bjelica/Pinto (MSU) d. Jung/Thibaudeau (UA), 8-6
Bes/Mertz (UA) d. Farlow/Girod (MSU), 8-2
Buikema/Felsenthal (UA) d. Lim/Mouillon (MSU), 8-5
Singles
Ivan Bjelica (MSU) d. Joseph Jung (UA), 6-4, 6-4
Javier Bes (UA) d. Philippe Frayssinoux (MSU), 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
Pierra Mouillon (MSU) d. Billy Mertz (UA), 6-3, 6-2
Jose Carlos Pinto (MSU) d. Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA), 6-2, 7-5
Florent Girod (MSU) d. Dan Buikema (UA), 6-1, 6-1
Sammy Struyf (UA) d. Eric Lim (MSU), 6-2, 6-4
