STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University men’s tennis coach Per Nilsson has many reasons to be unhappy this weekend.
Even with his program reaching the Southeastern Conference Championship semifinal round for the first time since 2006, the Bulldogs’ coach knows he didn’t have a healthy roster, which led to a lethargic effort on the court.
“You can’t beat yourself, especially against the top teams,” Nilsson said. “The message going into NCAAs now is if we lose and have our season over I want us to go home saying they beat us flat out.”
Despite having three of its top players at less than full strength, MSU defeated the University of Tennessee 4-2 on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round in front of a capacity crowd at the A.J. Pitts Centre.
On Saturday, ninth-ranked MSU weren’t as fortunate against the University of Georgia in a 4-3 loss. MSU nearly completed an impressive performance after losing the doubles point, but the home team’s top two players lost second and third sets in their singles matches.
It’s the second consecutive time MSU has lost 4-3 to Georgia after dropping a match earlier in Athens, Ga., where Nilsson didn’t think his team played well. He echoed that feeling in the rematch in Starkville.
“We lost a match we should’ve won there no ifs, ands or buts about it,” Nilsson said. “The guys know it and everybody knows it. That’s the disappointing thing for sure.”
Illyushin was unable to practice all week because of strep throat, but he was medically cleared for the conference tournament. Illyushin and sophomore No. 6 player Zach White are battling the illness as the Bulldogs approach the most critical stretch of their season.
“When you’re trying to beat top players, you need to be at full strength to have a chance,” Nilsson said. “Those guys played unbelievable for a set but couldn’t hang on.”
While playing 11th-ranked Will Spencer, Illyushin won the first set 6-2 but dropped the final two sets 6-3, 6-3 and couldn’t stop the constant streak of unforced errors. Illyushin, ranked 10th in the nation, had the crowd pushing home and had Nilsson in his ear on the bench during changeovers, but like a golfer visualizing his stroke, the senior was trying to replicate a swing of the racket that wasn’t there this weekend.
“We’ve been working on him not getting emotionally negative from point to point for four years, but I want him to play with emotion and I think the lack of practice time hurt him this week too,” Nilsson said.
White, who had his illness progress to a worse stage Saturday, battled back from losing the first set of his match in a tiebreak to earn a comeback victory that clinched the match win Friday.
“I saw all the people come over to my side of the stadium to watch my match and that just motivated me more to complete this comeback,” White said. “There was a part in the match where it was honestly 800 against one, and I felt that.”
Coupland and Nilsson commented last season that as a freshman White would’ve been unlikely to rebound in such a dire situation.
“I am so excited for Zach because when so after when he losses the first set, it’s over,” Nilsson said. “For me to show the team he can accomplish that is huge for him and for us as a collective group. In a key match like this, it’s everything, and I’m hoping that will turn it around for him.”
White was unable to create the same energy Saturday. He was in the training room table getting antibiotics that morning for his condition but lost his match to Hernus Pieters 6-0, 6-3.
“I saw (Zach) this morning looking pretty awful and didn’t think he’d even be able to play so my coaches told me he fought his butt off to win any games at all,” Nilsson said. “I want to make it clear I’m proud of the effort he showed to win his match (Friday).”
After MSU sophomore Malte Stropp allowed Tennessee’s Hunter Reese to come back for a heartbreaking 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 result for the Bulldogs’ No. 2 player. During the third set of his match, Stropp was getting medical treatment for his pulled groin and wasn’t able to maintain the momentum from the first set.
The MSU sophomore from Germany did the same thing again Saturday after winning a tiebreak from Georgia’s 24th-ranked KU Singh 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3.
Nilsson will give the players a couple days off to recuperate and to study for final exams in the spring semester. The MSU will know early this week if it will be selected to play host to a regional round of the NCAA tournament.
“We want to allow them a day or two off to study and produce some 4.0 (grade-point averages) for our team before we think about NCAAs,” Nilsson said. “When healthy, I still think we can beat anybody in the country.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.