STARKVILLE, Miss. — No. 6 Mississippi State defeated Alabama 5-2 Sunday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre, securing its seventh 20-win season under coach Matt Roberts.
The Bulldogs celebrated seniors Benito Sanchez Martinez, Petar Jovanovic, Michal Novansky, and Mario Martinez Serrano prior to the match. Mississippi State claimed the doubles point with wins on courts two and three. Niccolo Baroni and Martinez Serrano defeated Rohan Hazratwala and Matic Kriznik, while Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes and Brayan Hernandez Cortes secured the point with a win over Carlos Gimenez Perez and Brendan Loh.
In singles, the Bulldogs quickly took control, winning five straight matches to clinch the victory. Sanchez Martinez defeated Vit Kalina for his eighth consecutive ranked singles win, and Baroni defeated Matic Kriznik in a ranked matchup. Additional singles wins came from Raphael Vaksmann over Rohan Hazratwala and Hernandez Cortes over Yoshka Sborowsky.
With the victory, head coach Matt Roberts recorded his seventh 20-win season and tied his highest SEC win total of 11. The Bulldogs improved to 20-4 overall and 11-3 in SEC play, while Alabama fell to 12-16 and 3-11 in conference.
Mississippi State will next compete at the SEC Championships in Bryan-College Station, Texas.
