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Cavalier Men's Tennis Edges No. 12 Mississippi State 4-3
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STARKVILLE, Miss. – The third-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team began a two-game spring-break trip to Mississippi with a 4-3 victory over No. 12 Mississippi State on Tuesday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. Jarmere Jenkins (College Park, Ga.) rallied for a three-set win at No. 1 singles in the decisive match to lift the Cavaliers (9-1) to their ninth win of the season. The Bulldogs fell to 11-3 overall and had their seven-match win streak snapped.
Mississippi State took a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. George Coupland and Artem Ilyushin gave the Bulldogs the early edge with an 8-5 win at No. 2 over Jenkins and Philippe Oudshoorn (Apeldoorn, The Netherlands). Virginia drew even at No. 3 where Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.) and Julen Uriguen (Guatemala City, Guatemala) topped James Chaudry and Zach White 8-4. In the decisive match at No. 1, Louis Cant and Malte Stropp edged Alex Domijan (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and Steven Rooda (Amersfoort, The Netherlands) 9-7 to give Mississippi State the opening point.
In singles, Virginia drew even as Domijan defeated Chaudry 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 2 position. Uriguen gave the Cavaliers the lead as he completed a 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 6 over White. Mississippi State tied the match at 2-2 when Coupland topped Oudshoorn 7-5, 7-6(3) at No. 5 singles. The Cavaliers retook the lead, 3-2, as Frank downed Stropp 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 3 spot.
The final two matches went to a decisive third set. At No. 4, Cant rallied for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Justin Shane (Falls Church, Va.) to tie the match at 3-all. The match came down to the contest at No. 1, where Jenkins rallied from down a set and a break to force a third set against Ilyushin. In the final set, the players traded breaks to start and the match remained even until 3-3. Ilyushin broke Jenkins to take a 4-3 lead, but Jenkins broke back, held and broke Ilyushin again to close out the 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
The Cavaliers conclude their trip on Wednesday as they visit No. 16 Ole Miss.
#3 VIRGINIA 4, #12 MISSISSIPPI STATE 3
Doubles:
1. #23 Cant/Stropp (MSU) def. #60 Domijan/Rooda (UVa) 9-7
2. Coupland/Ilyushin (MSU) def. Jenkins/Oudshoorn (UVa) 8-5
3. Frank/Uriguen (UVa) def. Chaudry/White (MSU) 8-4
Singles:
1. #8 Jarmere Jenkins (UVa) def. #27 Artem Ilyushin (MSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. #53 Alex Domijan (UVa) def. James Chaudry (MSU) 6-4, 6-2
3. #1 Mitchell Frank (UVa) def. #75 Malte Stropp (MSU) 7-5, 6-3
4. #37 Louis Cant (MSU) def. #72 Justin Shane (UVa) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
5. #41 George Coupland (MSU) def. Philippe Oudshoorn (UVa) 7-5, 7-6(3)
6. Julen Uriguen (UVa) def. Zach White (MSU) 7-5, 6-1
Order of Finish:
Doubles: 2,3,1
Singles: 2,6,5,3,4,1