Gamecocks Drop 4-3 Heartbreaker to 10th-Ranked Miss. State

COLUMBIA, S.C.- South Carolina men’s tennis (11-3, 1-2 SEC) dropped a nail biter on Monday afternoon in a 4-3 loss at the hands of 10th-ranked Mississippi State (11-3, 2-1 SEC).  The match, which resumed play on Monday afternoon at the Carolina Tennis Center, had been postponed on Friday night, just under and hour into the singles session, due to heavy rain in the Columbia area.

Raphael Lambling and Paul Jubb earned the first ranked doubles win of the season for South Carolina as they took out the seventh-ranked pair in the nation at the No. 1 spot to begin the match Friday.  Carolina would drop the doubles point, however, for just the fourth time this season after suffering a tight 6-4 loss from the No. 3 pair.

Following a 70-hour stoppage in play, the two teams picked up where they left off on Monday afternoon with Mississippi State leading by a point with the doubles decision in its pocket from Friday afternoon.  Monday’s singles action saw the two teams split straight-set decisions on courts five and six, respectively, while each of the remaining courts would see three-set finishes.

Daniel Rodrigues and Raphael Lambling each closed out third-set wins to even the team score at 3-3, but Joseph Brailovksy dropped a deuce point ahead 6-5 followed by a 7-4 tiebreak loss.  The team loss snapped a 14-match home winning streak for South Carolina, which split a pair of 4-3 decisions in the second week of SEC play.

DOUBLES
Lambling and Jubb exerted their force early in the doubles session, using back-to-back breaks to go ahead 4-1.  The Euro tandem then won deuce point to hold at 5-1 and eventually finished off the seventh-ranked pair of Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic with a 6-2 win.

Carolina later fell 6-2 at the No. 2 pair as Beau Pelletier and Daniel Rodrigues trailed 5-4 in the third and final doubles match.  Rodrigues and Pelletier fell behind love-30 in the next game, however, and were unable to hold off Mississppi State’s Gregor Ramskogler and Trevor Foshey who finished off the 6-4 win to give the Bulldogs the doubles point.

Doubles Results:
1. Raphael Lambling/Paul Jubb (SC) def. #7 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MS) 6-2
2. #4 Giovanni Oradini/Niclas Braun (MS) def. Joseph Brailovsky/Jake Beasley (SC) 6-2
3. Gregor Ramskogler/Trevor Foshey (MS) def. Beau Pelletier/Daniel Rodrigues (SC) 6-4
Order of finish: 1,2,3

SINGLES
The weather stoppage came approximately 45 minutes into Friday’s singles session with the Gamecocks owning leads on three of four singles courts and court three even at 5-5.  12th-ranked Jubb took his first set (6-4) and Rodrigues captured the first set on court two (6-2) prior to Friday’s stoppage.

After losing momentum early following Monday’s restart, South Carolina turned things around following Jake Beasley’s 7-5, 6-3 (6-5 in the first following Friday’s stoppage) win on court six.

With Carolina down by a single team point, the Gamecocks were given another breath of life as Jubb held off match point to break for 5-5 and later went on to take the lead 6-5.  The Gamecocks’ junior failed to capitalize on his only match point opportunity of the afternoon with his 6-5 lead and later saw Borges go on to win a tight 8-6 tiebreak for the team point.

Lambling carried the momentum of his 7-5 second-set win, to cruise to a 6-1 win in the third, bringing the Gamecocks back within a point.  Just moments after Lambling’s win, Rodrigues closed out a 6-4 third-set decision to even the match at 3-3 with court four in the midst of a third-set tiebreak.

Joseph Brailovksy also missed out on a match point opportunity at deuce point with a 6-5 lead in the third, eventually falling 7-4 in the tiebreak on court four.

Singles Results:
1. Nuno Borges (MS) def. Paul Jubb (SC) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (6)
2. Daniel Rodrigues (SC) def. Giovanni Oradini (MS) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
3. Raphael Lambling (SC) def. Strahinja Rakic (MS) 5-7, 7-5, 6-0
4. Niclas Braun (MS) def. Joseph Brailovsky (SC) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4)
5. Trevor Foshey (MS) def. Beau Pelletier (SC) 6-2, 6-4
6. Jake Beasley (SC) def. Florian Broska (MS) 7-5, 6-3
Order of finish: 5,6,1,3,2,,4*

UP NEXT
South Carolina will be on the road next weekend, taking on No. 25 Tennessee on Friday at 5 p.m. ET followed by Georgia on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET.

For all men’s tennis updates, continue to check back with GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).