University of Memphis Athletics
Friday, May 13
2:00 pm
University of Memphis
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Mississippi State University
Photo by: UofM Athletic Media Relations
Men’s Tennis Falls in NCAA Round, 4-1
May 13, 2016 | Men's Tennis
Andrew Watson gets straight set singles win over #34 ranked player at one.
URBANA, Ill. – Sophomore Andrew Watson picked up a straight set singles win, 6-1, 6-3 at one, but number 21 Mississippi State (17-8) grabbed the doubles point and wins at three, four and six to end the men's tennis team's season (14-11), 4-1, Friday
"These two/three seed matchups can always go either way, it comes down to a couple of points," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "We were right there. In doubles, I don't know that we played our best, and we still had a chance right down to the last point."
After Mississippi State's ranked doubles tandem grabbed a 6-2 win at number one, the Tigers' team of Watson and Shakeel Manji stormed back for a 6-4 win at three to even the battle for the doubles point at 1-1. The Tigers came back from 5-4 down to force a tiebreaker at two, but at 5-5 in the tiebreak, Mississippi State won back-to-back points for the 7-6 win and the doubles point edge, 1-0.
"That one point comes down to one court, and we had some match points that we saved, but credit to Mississippi State, they were able to come through," Goebel said. "But once again, a lot of learning points and a bright future for us."
Memphis came out and evened the match with a straight set win from Watson, who stormed out to a 5-0 lead against the number 34 ranked singles player in the country. Watson won 6-1, 6-3 to even the match and provided some momentum for his teammates to battle back in their own matches.
"I don't think we were just satisfied getting in, they really wanted to win," Goebel said. "We gave ourselves some chances, but we just didn't play maybe our greatest match of the year. But we really overcame some adversity. We had a couple of guys overcome some injuries and we weren't sure they were even going to play, but to see them go out there and fight every point was good.
"Today, unfortunately, we didn't win against a very good SEC, top 25 team. We're going to set some very high goals for next year and hope to be back."
#21 Mississippi State 4, #42 Memphis 1
Doubles
No. 1 – #47 Mate Cutura/Vaughn Hunter def. Kai Lemke/Louis Asser, 6-2
No. 2 – Trevor Foshey/Luka Sucevic def. Ryan Peniston/Felix Rauch, 7-6 (5)
No. 3 – Andrew Watson/Shakeel Manji (Memphis) def. Niclas Braun/Rishab Agarwal, 6-4
Singles
No. 1 – #108 Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. #34 Mate Cutura, 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 – #54 Rishab Agarwal vs. #92 Ryan Peniston (Memphis), 5-7, 4-3, uf
No. 3 – #70 Nuno Borges def. Kai Lemke (Memphis), 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Niclas Braun def. Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis), 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 – Strahininja Rakic vs. Felix Rauch (Memphis), 7-6 (4), 2-3, uf
No. 6 – Luka Sucevic def. Shakeel Manji (Memphis) 6-4, 6-3
"These two/three seed matchups can always go either way, it comes down to a couple of points," Head Coach Paul Goebel said. "We were right there. In doubles, I don't know that we played our best, and we still had a chance right down to the last point."
After Mississippi State's ranked doubles tandem grabbed a 6-2 win at number one, the Tigers' team of Watson and Shakeel Manji stormed back for a 6-4 win at three to even the battle for the doubles point at 1-1. The Tigers came back from 5-4 down to force a tiebreaker at two, but at 5-5 in the tiebreak, Mississippi State won back-to-back points for the 7-6 win and the doubles point edge, 1-0.
"That one point comes down to one court, and we had some match points that we saved, but credit to Mississippi State, they were able to come through," Goebel said. "But once again, a lot of learning points and a bright future for us."
Memphis came out and evened the match with a straight set win from Watson, who stormed out to a 5-0 lead against the number 34 ranked singles player in the country. Watson won 6-1, 6-3 to even the match and provided some momentum for his teammates to battle back in their own matches.
"I don't think we were just satisfied getting in, they really wanted to win," Goebel said. "We gave ourselves some chances, but we just didn't play maybe our greatest match of the year. But we really overcame some adversity. We had a couple of guys overcome some injuries and we weren't sure they were even going to play, but to see them go out there and fight every point was good.
"Today, unfortunately, we didn't win against a very good SEC, top 25 team. We're going to set some very high goals for next year and hope to be back."
#21 Mississippi State 4, #42 Memphis 1
Doubles
No. 1 – #47 Mate Cutura/Vaughn Hunter def. Kai Lemke/Louis Asser, 6-2
No. 2 – Trevor Foshey/Luka Sucevic def. Ryan Peniston/Felix Rauch, 7-6 (5)
No. 3 – Andrew Watson/Shakeel Manji (Memphis) def. Niclas Braun/Rishab Agarwal, 6-4
Singles
No. 1 – #108 Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. #34 Mate Cutura, 6-1, 6-3
No. 2 – #54 Rishab Agarwal vs. #92 Ryan Peniston (Memphis), 5-7, 4-3, uf
No. 3 – #70 Nuno Borges def. Kai Lemke (Memphis), 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 – Niclas Braun def. Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis), 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 – Strahininja Rakic vs. Felix Rauch (Memphis), 7-6 (4), 2-3, uf
No. 6 – Luka Sucevic def. Shakeel Manji (Memphis) 6-4, 6-3
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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