Bulldogs Take Down Missouri In SEC Championship
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (April 20, 2022) - Mississippi State women's tennis claimed a 4-2 victory over No. 12 seed Missouri to open the 2022 SEC Championship at The University of Florida's Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex on Wednesday.
The 13th-seeded Bulldogs lost a tough 4-3 decision to Missouri during the regular season on April 10, but prevailed in the postseason to eliminate the Tigers and advance. MSU will meet No. 5 seed Arkansas in the second round on Thursday at 8 a.m. CT. "We were pretty disappointed with the loss to Missouri on senior day and were excited about the rematch," said head coach Daryl Greenan.
"We were solid in doubles once again and we knew that was going to be an important point to get to start the match. Marta Falceto had the biggest turn around and played flawlessly avenging her loss to the same girl in Starkville a little over a week ago. That set the tone for Emmanouela Antonaki and Chloé Cirotte to once again come out on top over the same opponents they faced at home. Emma had a more difficult time starting a little slow but was extremely dominant in the third set to clinch the win. Now we set our sights on Arkansas tomorrow morning."
MSU set the tone with back-to-back doubles wins to start the day.Antonaki and Falceto defeated Emelie Schwarte and Elys Ventura 6-3 while Tamara Racine and Magda Adaloglou secured the point with their 6-4 victory against Bronte Murgett and Gabriela Martinez.
Antonaki now stands alone in fourth all-time at MSU in career doubles wins at 69.
Falceto carried her doubles momentum over into singles play. Falceto dominated Romary Cardenas in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. Falceto has now won eight of her last nine decisions, including seven wins over SEC opponents.
Cirotte earned a win over Schwarte in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to claim her seventh victory in her last eight singles matches.
The 76th-rankend Antonaki lost the first set to Murgett 7-5, but bounced back in the next two sets 6-4, 6-0 to clinch the win for the Bulldogs.
Antonaki remains third all-time in career singles wins with 78.