Men’s Tennis Set For Matchup at No. 14 Mississippi State
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team (1-1) returns to action on Sunday, as it travels to No. 14 Mississippi State to close out its season-opening three-match road trip. The match is set to begin at 1 p.m. ET.
THE SERIES
Miami will face Mississippi State for the 10th time in program history on Sunday. The Hurricanes trail MSU in the all-time series by a 5-4 count. The two teams met a year ago in Coral Gables, Fla., with the Hurricanes falling by a 4-0 count.
LIVE VIDEO/STATS
Live stats and video for the Hurricanes matchup at Mississippi State can be found by clicking here.
LAST TIME OUT
Miami opened the spring portion of its 2017-18 schedule on Friday, as it split a pair of matches against No. 22 Tulane and New Orleans at the City Park Pepsi Tennis Center.
The Hurricanes dropped a 6-1 decision to Tulane, but rebounded in its second matchup of the day with a convincing 4-0 win over New Orleans.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Mississippi State enters Sunday’s match against the Hurricanes in the hopes of completing a perfect season-opening weekend. MSU posted a 7-0 win over UAB and a 5-2 triumph over USF on Friday.
MSU has proven to be a tough out at home, posting a 20-1 non-conference record in matches at home under head coach Matt Roberts.
The Bulldogs are led by reigning SEC Player of the Year Nuno Borges, who comes into the match riding an eight-match win streak dating back to November.
NOTING THE HURRICANES
Pablo Aycart Joya | Freshman | Algeciras, Spain
-Posted a 2-2 record in doubles competition in the fall.
-Tallied consecutive two-set victories at the Rice Invitational.
Nile Clark | Senior | Philadelphia, Pa.
-2017-18 record: 3-5 singles; 5-3 doubles.
-Recorded a 5-2 mark in doubles competition this past fall.
-Reached the quarterfinals of the Bedford Cup in doubles competition.
-Earned an opening-round doubles victory at the 2017 ITA Southeast Championships.
Dane Dunlap | Redshirt Sophomore | Washago, Ontario
-Split a pair of singles and doubles matches on Friday in New Orleans.
-2017-18 record: 6-5 singles; 7-3 doubles.
-Posted a 5-4 tally in singles competition and a 6-2 record in doubles play this past fall.
-Earned two singles victories at the 2017 ITA Men’s All-American Championships where he advanced to the final pre-qualification round.
-Won the Doubles A bracket of the Bedford Cup with Christian Langmo.
Niclas Genovese | Senior | Zug, Switzerland
-Split a pair of singles matches on Friday, defeating Giacomo Adoncecchi (New Orleans) and falling to No. 107 Tyler Schick (Tulane).
-2017-18 record: 6-4 singles; 3-2 doubles.
-Tallied a 5-3 record in singles play and a 3-2 mark in doubles competition.
-Earned one singles and one doubles win at the Rice Invitational.
Bojan Jankulovski | Freshman | Skopje, Macedonia
-Ranked 71st in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s National Singles Rankings.
-Split a pair of singles matches and won his doubles match with teammate Adria Soriano against New Orleans.
-2017-18 record: 8-5 singles; 5-5 doubles.
-Recorded seven wins in singles competition this past fall.
-Posted a straight-set victory over Wisconsin’s Josef Dodridge in the ITA Men’s All-American Championships in his Hurricane debut.
-Combined to win a team-best three matches at the ITA Southeast Championships.
Jake Kuhlman | Freshman | Grand Forks, N.D.
-Posted a 3-3 mark in doubles competition.
-Won a pair of singles matches at the Rice Invitational.
Christian Langmo | Senior | Boca Raton, Fla.
-Ranked No. 78 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s National Singles Rankings.
-Posted a 6-3 victory with doubles partner Dane Dunlap against New Orleans.
-2017-18 record: 8-7 singles; 9-4 doubles.
-Combined to win a team-best 16 matches this past fall, claiming eight victories in singles and doubles competition.
-Won the Doubles A bracket of the Bedford Cup with Dane Dunlap.
-Advanced to the qualification stage of the ITA Men’s All-American Championships with four straight victories.
Piotr Lomacki | Senior | Warsaw, Poland
-Did not compete this past fall.
-Posted a 6-3 record as a junior during the 2016-17 campaign.
Tatsuki Shimamoto | Freshman | Nagoya, Japan
-Posted a 7-3 mark in doubles competition.
-2017-18 record: 4-6 singles; 7-4 doubles.
-Reached the quarterfinals of the Bedford Cup.
-Earned three straight-set victories on his way to the Houndstooth Singles Draw title match at the CCB Collegiate Invitational.
Adria Soriano | Freshman | Barcelona, Spain
-Earned a straight set win over No. 46 Luis Erlenbusch (Tulane).
-2017-18 record: 9-3 singles; 7-7 doubles.
-Tied for the team lead with eight singles victories and posted six doubles wins this past fall.
-Defeated Tulane’s Tim Ruetzel to win the Blue Draw singles title at the Rice Invitational.
-Reached the Doubles A final at the Bedford Cup.
A LOOK AHEAD TO THE 2018 SCHEDULE
Miami will take part in 14 home matches this spring at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. Miami’s first home match of the spring campaign begins at 3 p.m., on Feb. 2 with the Hurricanes taking on Georgia Southern.
Miami opens ACC competition on March 2 at 5 p.m., on the road against Georgia Tech. The Hurricanes’ first league match at home will place Miami against Wake Forest on March 23 at 3 p.m.
“We’re very excited about this year’s spring schedule,” Piric said. “We had a good fall season, but now we are looking forward to playing and competing as a team.”
RECAPPING A PROMISING 2017 FALL CAMPAIGN
-Freshman Adria Soriano won the White draw final of the CCB Collegiate Invitational on Nov. 12 to capture his second collegiate title. Earlier in the fall, Soriano won the Blue Draw singles title at Rice Invitational (Sept. 29-Oct. 1).
-Freshmen Adria Soriano and Bojan Jankulovski combined for 15 singles victories this past fall. Soriano tied for the team lead with eight singles wins, while Jankulovski totaled seven singles wins.
-Senior Christian Langmo and junior Dane Dunlap highlighted Day 3 competition at the 2017 Bedford Cup, as they captured the Doubles A bracket crown. The Miami duo defeated freshman teammates Adria Soriano and Bojan Jankulovski in the final.
-Freshman Bojan Jankulovski and senior Christian Langmo finished the fall portion of the 2017-18 season ranked 71st and 78th, respectively in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s National Singles Rankings.
UP NEXT
Miami welcomes Georgia Southern to the Neil Schiff Tennis center for its 2018 home opener on Feb. 2. The match is set to begin at 3 p.m.
FOLLOW US
For all of the latest news around Miami’s men’s tennis team, follow @CanesMensTennis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or go to HurricaneSports.com.
