Crimson Tide Men’s Tennis Drops Road Match at Mississippi State

Thursday, March 9

Starkville, Miss.

3 p.m.

Alabama

Mississippi State University

Crimson Tide Men’s Tennis Drops Road Match at Mississippi State

3/9/2017 5:58:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Mazen Osama picks up singles win over fourth-ranked Nuno Borges

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Alabama men's tennis team fell by a score of 5-2 to No. 16 Mississippi State on Thursday afternoon at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. With the loss, the Crimson Tide moves to 6-9 overall and 0-3 in Southeastern Conference play, while the win lifts the Bulldogs to 11-3 on the season and 2-0 against league opponents.

Mississippi State took the 1-0 advantage following doubles with wins on two of the three courts. At the No. 3 spot, the match between Tide freshmen Thibault Cancel and Zhe Zhou and Bulldog sophomores Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic went back and forth to start, but the duo in maroon and white would pull away midway through the match to claim a 6-3 victory. On court one, sophomores Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey got off to a 4-0 start, however Tide sophomores Mazen Osama and Spencer Richey would close the gap after winning three of the next four games. With Braun serving, Mississippi State would close out the match, winning 6-3. The match on court two between Tide freshmen Alexey Nesterov and Edson Ortiz and Bulldog seniors Mate Cutura and Vaughn Hunter would go unfinished at 4-4.

Mississippi State took a 2-0 lead after picking up the first win in singles on court five where Braun topped Richey, 7-5, 6-1. From there, Cancel, ranked 103^rd in singles, got Alabama on the board with a 6-2, 6-4 victory from the No. 2 spot over Rakic. A win for the Bulldogs' Cutura on court three against Ortiz put the home team in front 3-1, moving all eyes to the other end of the courts where the matches on four and six were headed into tiebreakers in the second set. Freshman Giovanni Oradini provided the clinching point for Mississippi State as he'd go on to edge out Nesterov in the tiebreaker to win the match 6-1, 7-6(4). Shortly after, Foshey would give the Bulldogs a 5-1 lead after squeaking past Zhou in their tiebreaker to claim a 6-0, 7-6(6) victory. The day's only matchup between ranked singles opponents would be last to finish as No. 4 Borges and No. 41 Osama went the distance in three sets. Osama cruised to a 5-0 lead in the final frame before Borges was able to tack on a game. The Mississippi State sophomore would get one more before Osama closed out the match to win 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Alabama remains on the road for its second match of the weekend when it heads to Auburn to take on the Tigers on Saturday. The match is slated to begin at 3 p.m. CT.

RESULTS
Doubles

1. No. 48 Braun/Foshey (MSU) def. No. 66 Osama/Richey (UA) 6-3

2. Nesterov/Ortiz (UA) vs. Cutura/Hunter (MSU) 4-4, unf.

3. Borges/Rakic (MSU) def. Cancel/Zhou (UA) 6-3

Order of Finish: 3, 1

Singles

1. No. 41 Mazen Osama (UA) def. No. 4 Nuno Borges (MSU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2

2. No. 103 Thibault Cancel (UA) def. Strahinja Rakic (MSU) 6-2, 6-4

3. Mate Cutura (MSU) def. Edson Ortiz (UA) 6-3, 6-4

4. Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. Alexey Nesterov (UA) 6-1, 7-6(4)

5. Niclas Braun (MSU) def. Spencer Richey (UA) 7-5, 6-1

6. Trevor Foshey (MSU) def. Zhe Zhou (UA) 6-0, 7-6(6)

Order of Finish: 5, 2, 3, 4*, 6, 1

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