The Mississippi State men’s and women’s tennis teams continued their respective postseason runs in the individual portion of the NCAA Championships Monday.
Senior Nuno Borges and junior Giovanni Oradini advanced to the second round of the men’s singles tournament, while freshman Emma Antonaki fell in her opening match in the women’s singles competition.
Borges, the No. 1 overall seed, disposed of N.C. State’s No. 21 Alexis Galarneau 6-4, 6-2. With the victory Borges extended his career-long win streak to a school record 27 matches. He will play Florida’s No. 59 Andy Andrade in the second round.
“I just stayed tough throughout the match and tried not to give him too many free points,” he said. “In the first round, it can be hard to get things going and I think he felt it, too. So, I took advantage of it in the first set and went on to play a great second set.”
Oradini took down No. 69 Charlie Broom of Dartmouth 6-3, 6-1. Both Oradini and Broom were entered into the draw as alternates.
“I knew what I was doing and knew what I wanted to do, so my game plan worked out pretty well,” Oradini said. “I did a good job of taking it point-by-point and that was the key for me. I wasn’t thinking about the next game, I was just focusing on the moment.”
He will play UC-Santa Barbara’s No. 53 Joseph Guillin in his next match.
On the women’s side, Antonaki’s inaugural campaign came to a close with a 6-3, 6-2 loss to N.C. State’s Anna Rogers. She finishes the year having earned All-Southeastern Conference second team honors and was named to the All-SEC freshman team.
Today, both Borges and Oradini will begin the men’s doubles competition. Borges and senior Strahinja Rakic will be the tournament’s No. 3 seed. Oradini will compete alongside senior Niclas Braun after the duo earned an at-large bid.
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