Alabama Competes in Trio of Weekend Road Matches

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. –– Alabama men's tennis will compete in a pair of Southeastern Conference matches and one non-conference match this weekend. The Crimson Tide heads to Starkville, Miss., Friday to face Mississippi State in a 3 p.m. CT match, before traveling to Nashville, Tenn., Sunday to face Vanderbilt in a road contest at noon CT and Tennessee State in a neutral site contest at 5 p.m. CT.

Alabama's match against Tennessee State will be played at Vanderbilt's Currey Tennis Center.

The Matches

Mississippi State:
Date: Friday, March 25
Time: 3 p.m. CT
Location: Starkville, Miss.
Venue: A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre

Vanderbilt:
Date: Sunday, March 27
Time: Noon CT
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Venue: Currey Tennis Center

Tennessee State:
Date: Sunday, March 27
Time: 5 p.m. CT
Venue: Currey Tennis Center
Location: Nashville, Tenn.

How to Follow

Links to live scoring and video streams will be available at RollTide.com. Updates will be provided on the team's Twitter account, @AlabamaMTN

The Tide

UA will compete in a trio of matches this weekend, facing Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Tennessee State
Filip Planinsek is ranked nationally in both singles and doubles, entering the weekend as the 112^th-ranked singles player in the country and 44^th ranked doubles team with partner German Samofalov
In its last outing, Alabama battled to a 4-3 victory over Drake in what was the team's second match of the day
The Tide opened competition that day with a 4-2 loss to LSU, which saw the final two singles matches go into a third set
Planinsek's performance over the weekend earned him Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honors as he recorded an upset win over then-No. 50 singles player Ronald Hohmann from LSU and captured the deciding point against Drake
In addition to Planinsek, Enzo Aguiard holds a 15-10 overall record and 6-5 record at No. 2 singles

A Look at the Bulldogs

Mississippi State enters the weekend ranked 33^rd in the latest collegiate rankings and holds an 11-8 overall record and a 1-5 record in conference play
Florian Broska leads the team, ranking 39^th in singles while playing at the top of the lineup, while Nemanja Malesevic ranks 72^nd in the event
MSU faced a pair of top-10 SEC foes last weekend, falling to the then-No. 7 South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday before facing top-ranked Florida in a 7-0 loss on Sunday
Alabama trails the all-time series against the Bulldogs, 53-33
The Tide won the last regular season meeting, downing MSU 5-2 during the 2021 season
However, the two teams would meet again at the 2021 SEC Tournament with Mississippi State taking a 4-1 victory

Scouting Vanderbilt

The Commodores are 13-5 on the year and 1-4 in league play as the team ranks 41^st in this week's ITA rankings
George Harwell is the top-ranked singles player for Vanderbilt, entering the weekend at No.44, while the doubles team of Michael Ross and Siim Troost enter the weekend ranked 80^th
Vanderbilt is coming off a pair of non-conference wins as the team defeated Tennessee State, 6-1, on Sunday and Indiana, 4-0, on Wednesday
Alabama leads the all-time series 41-26 including winning the last three contests
Prior to playing the Tide, the Commodores will host Kentucky in a 4 p.m. CT match on Friday

The Tigers

Tennessee State is 3-12 on the year
The Tigers are coming off a recent 6-1 loss to Vanderbilt, the second meeting between the two teams this season
This will be just the third match between the two teams with Alabama winning a doubleheader against Tennessee State in 2015
The Tigers will host Belmont on Friday at 4 p.m. CT before going head-to-head with the Tide

Get all the latest information on the team by following AlabamaMTN on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.

– UA –