Comeback falls short as Blue Raiders lose to No. 11 Mississippi State

Box Score (PDF)

STARKVILLE, Miss. - No. 47 Middle Tennessee battled tough, but lost a heartbreaker, 4-3, to No. 11 Mississippi State on Sunday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.

The Blue Raiders drop to 8-4 on the season while MSU improves to 10-2.

"For this being our first outdoor match of the season, and for us to go 4-3 with No. 11 in the nation, there are a lot of positives," head coach Jimmy Borendame said.

MT's doubles squads continued to improve, as the Blue Raiders won two of three and took the doubles point for the sixth match in a row.

"I was really impressed with our doubles play," Borendame said.  "We've seemed to figure out our teams, and it's working well."

Ben Davis and Victor Cornea have paired together for the previous five matches, and defeated the 13th-ranked MSU pair of Jordan Angus and Malte Stropp, 8-4 to start the day.

Yannick Born and Marlon Brand fell to the Bulldogs' Zach White and Ethan Wilkinson, 8-6, setting up a winner-take-all situation for the doubles point.

David Fox and Christoph Lang squared off with Romain Bogaerts and Pedro Dumont, and went into a tie-breaker, tied 7-7, which MT's pair won, 7-5. Fox and Lang are now 5-0 as a doubles pair this season.

MSU took a 3-1 lead after the first half of singles matchups, as James Chaundry defeated Lang, 6-1, 6-3, and Stropp (No. 43) took down Cornea, 6-1, 6-3. In Flight 4 singles, Angus topped Born, 6-3, 6-1.

From there, MT would battle back on two separate match points and tie the match, 3-3, with fifth and sixth flight singles victories. Ettore Zito won his third consecutive match, beating MSU's Stefan Vinti, 6-2, 6-2. Fox then grabbed a two-set (6-1, 6-4) win over White.

In the end, however, MT's comeback fell short as No. 98 Davis fell to No. 19 Bogaerts, 5-7, 1-6.

"I'm looking forward to having a good week of practice, and getting ready for next weekend," Borendame said.

The Blue Raiders will compete in the HEB Classic next weekend, March 1-2, in Corpus Christi, Texas.

#11 Mississippi State 4, #47 Middle Tennessee 3
Feb 24, 2013 at Starkville, Miss.

Singles competition
1. #19 Romain Bogaerts (MSU) def. #98 Davis, Ben (MT) 7-5, 6-1
2. #43 Malte Stropp (MSU) def. Cornea, Victor (MT) 6-1, 6-3
3. James Chaudry (MSU) def. Lang, Christoph (MT) 6-1, 6-3
4. Jordan Angus (MSU) def. Born, Yannick (MT) 6-3, 6-1
5. Zito, Ettore (MT) def. Stefan Vinti (MSU) 6-2, 6-2
6. Fox, David (MT) def. Zach White (MSU) 6-1, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Davis, Ben/Cornea, Victor (MT) def. #13 Jordan Angus/Malte Stropp (MSU) 8-4
2. Zach White/Ethan Wilkinson (MSU) def. Born, Yannick/Brand, Marlon (MT) 8-6
3. Fox, David/Lang, Christoph (MT) def. Romain Bogaerts/Pedro Dumont (MSU) 8-7 (7-5)

Match Notes:
Middle Tennessee 8-3; National ranking #47
Mississippi State 9-2; National ranking #11
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (3,2,4,6,5,1)

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