No. 15 Mississippi State was a 6-1 winner over visiting Auburn Sunday afternoon at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre in Starkville, Miss.
The Tigers bounced back to the winning side in doubles, taking the team doubles point with a pair of 6-4 victories. Auburn’s top tandem of Tad Maclean and Finn Murgett, ranked No. 32 nationally, downed No. 52 Florian Broska and Gregor Ramskogler on court one, and then Tom Wright and Maxwell Giddens clinched the point with a victory over Giovanni Oradini and Stedman Strickland on court two.
In singles, the Bulldogs took the first set in all six matches, and captured straight set wins on courts two, six, three and five to clinch the team match.
Auburn’s Jan Galka forced a third set on court four with a 6-4 advantage in the second set, but MSU’s Alberto Colas was the winner of the 10-point third-set tiebreaker by a 10-4 count, winning the match 6-4, 4-6, 1-0.
On court one, Tyler Stice won his second set 7-5 to force a third-set tiebreaker against No. 51 Giovanni Oradini, but Mississippi State prevailed 10-6 in the extra stanza to win 6-4, 5-7, 1-0.
The Tigers (now 6-14 overall, 2-9 SEC) close the regular season on Friday hosting No. 39 Arkansas in a 2 p.m. Senior Day match at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. Mississippi State is now 13-7 overall (3-6 SEC).
Mississippi State 6, Auburn 1
Singles
#51 Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #36 Tyler Stice (AU) 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6)
#45 Florian Broska (MSU) def. Tim Dollman (AU) 6-2, 6-4
#71 Nemanja Malesevic (MSU) def. Tad Maclean (AU) 6-3, 6-3
Alberto Colas (MSU) def. Jan Galka (AU) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4)
Carles Hernandez (MSU) def. Finn Murgett (AU) 6-1, 7-5
Spencer Gray (AU) v Gregor Ramskogler (MSU) def. Spencer Gray (AU) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles
#32 Tad Maclean/Finn Murgett (AU) def. #52 Florian Broska/Gregor Ramskogler (MSU) 6-4
Tom Wright/Maxwell Giddens (AU) def. Giovanni Oradini/Stedman Strickland (MSU) 6-4
Davide Tortora/Nemanja Malesevic (MSU) def. Jan Galka/Tyler Stice (AU) 6-3
Time of match: 2:35; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1,2; Singles: 2,6,3,5,4,1