STARKVILLE ? Despite dropping the doubles point, five first sets in singles and going down 3-1 in the match, the Mississippi state women's tennis team mounted and completed an incredible comeback effort to upset No. 33 Tennessee 4-3 on Friday at A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. With the victory, MSU improved to 8-4 overall, 2-1 in SEC play. Tennessee fell to 9-3, 0-2. The Bulldogs have now won six of the last eight matches with the Volunteers, including four-straight in Starkville. The win marked the highest-ranked victory for the Bulldogs since defeating 28th-ranked LSU 4-3 on April 14 of last season. "That was a gutsy win over one of the gutsiest teams in our conference," MSU head coach Daryl Greenan said. "We have struggled in three-setters a little this spring, so going 3-0 in three-set matches today means a lot. I am proud of the way we hung in there after losing doubles and five out of six first sets in singles. The girls just kept fighting and, in the end, proved this young team can compete. It was just what we needed after coming up just short last Sunday (against Vanderbilt)." For only the second time this season, the Bulldogs failed to clinch the doubles point. After appearing at No. 56 in this week's ITA rankings, State's duo of Magda Adaloglou and Tamara Racine fell to Tennessee's 13th-ranked tandem of Tenika McGiffin and Kaitlin Staines 6-3 at No. 1. On court 3, MSU's pair of Marta Falceto and Sara Lizariturry saw their eight-match win streak come to an end in a tight 6-4 decision to Carly Briggs and Ariadna Riley of UT. The loss marked the first defeat of the dual match season for the freshman-senior duo. Emma Antonaki and Alexandra Mikhailuk were up 5-4 over Tennessee's Rebeka Mertena and Johanna Silva at No. 2 when the doubles point was clinched. The Vols carried their momentum into singles, claiming the first set on five of the six courts to seemingly put the match out of reach. But the Bulldogs had other ideas. To open singles on court 3, Adaloglou extended her win streak to six straight matches by posting a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of UT's No. 103 Briggs for her first ranked victory of dual match play this season. Tennessee then grabbed back-to-back straight-set wins on courts 5 and 1. Lizariturry fell to Hadley Doyle 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5, before Racine was edged by 43rd-ranked Mertena 7-5, 6-3 at the top spot in the lineup. Down 3-1 and having lost the first set in all three of the remaining matches (and needing all three for the win), the Maroon and White responded in dramatic fashion, producing three three-set comeback victories to clinch the match. The wins would come from a sophomore and two true freshmen. The sophomore Antonaki, ranked 88th nationally, recorded her second-straight ranked victory by posting a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 triumph over No. 59 Silva of Tennessee on court 2. It was her fourth consecutive victory. The match would then come down to the same two Bulldog rookies for the second match in a row ? Falceto and Mikhailuk ? who both dropped tough three-set affairs in State's heartbreaking 4-3 loss to No. 20 Vandy on Sunday. But neither of them would be denied Friday. After falling 6-0 to UT's Riley in set one at No. 6, the freshman Falceto fought back to take the second and third sets 6-2, 6-4, tying the match at 3-3. Then, facing the first ranked opponent of her collegiate career, the rookie Mikhailuk mounted the final rally of the day to take her match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 over Tennessee's 72nd-ranked Staines at the No. 4 spot and secure the exciting upset for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs will host No. 7 Georgia and ULM in a doubleheader on Sunday at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. State will face the Georgia Bulldogs at 1 p.m., before battling the Warhawks at 4 p.m. For more information on Mississippi State women's tennis team, visit HailState.com and follow "HailStateWT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Mississippi State 4, No. 33 Tennessee 3March 6, 2020Starkville, Miss. ? A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre Doubles1. #13 Tenika McGiffin/Kaitlin Staines (UT) def. #56 Magda Adaloglou/Tamara Racine (MSU) 6-32. Emma Antonaki/Alexandra Mikhailuk (MSU) vs. Rebeka Mertena/Johanna Silva (UT) 5-4, susp.3. Carly Briggs/Ariadna Riley (UT) def. Marta Falceto/Sara Lizariturry (MSU) 6-4Order of finish: 1,3 Singles1. #43 Rebeka Mertena (UT) def. Tamara Racine (MSU) 7-5, 6-32. #88 Emma Antonaki (MSU) def. #59 Johanna Silva (UT) 4-6, 6-1, 6-43. Magda Adaloglou (MSU) def. #103 Carly Briggs (UT) 6-3, 6-14. Alexandra Mikhailuk (MSU) def. #72 Kaitlin Staines (UT) 4-6, 6-2, 6-35. Hadley Doyle (UT) def. Sara Lizariturry (MSU) 6-3, 6-36. Marta Falceto (MSU) def. Ariadna Riley (UT) 0-6, 6-2, 6-4Order of finish: 3,5,1,2,6,4

More...