Friday, March 17
Starkville, Miss.
3 PM
University of Missouri
at
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No. 41 Mississippi State
No. 42 @MizzouTennis Travels to Mississippi for a Pair of Matches Against Ranked Opponents
3/16/2017 3:33:00 PM | Tennis
Mizzou will face No. 41 Mississippi State on Friday and No. 25 Ole Miss on Sunday
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COLUMBIA, MO. – Mizzou Tennis (10-4, 1-2 SEC) travels to Mississippi for another weekend of Southeastern Conference play against a set of ranked opponents. The Tigers are coming off of one of their most successful weeks in program history, defeating No. 17 Texas A&M, the highest ranked opponent Mizzou has ever beaten. Mizzou will face No. 41 Mississippi State on Friday at 5 p.m., followed by a matchup with No. 25 Ole Miss on Sunday at 1 p.m.
#ClutchKenz Strikes Again:
- Freshman Mackenzy Middlebrooks (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) came through in the clutch twice this last weekend for the Mizzou Tigers.
- Against No. 17 Texas A&M, Middlebrooks took the court at No. 6 as the match was tied 3-3. After dropping the first set 4-6, Middlebrooks worked to force a tiebreaker in set two. After a grueling 14-point tiebreaker, Middlebrooks emerged victorious, forcing a winner-take-all third set. Once again, Middlebrooks had to come from behind, this time from a 1-3 deficit. Middlebrooks caught fire, winning five straight games and got the clutch win, 6-3, giving Mizzou the 4-3 dual victory.
- Just a day and a half later, Middlebrooks was at it again. She began her No. 6 match with Mizzou down 3-2 to No. 29 LSU. With the pressure on, Middlebrooks polished off Holloway in straight sets to tie the match at three and put Mizzou in a position to defeat yet another ranked opponent.
- The pair of singles wins extends her singles winning streak to four matches and improves her overall singles record to 14-4 this year, 7-1 in dual play, 3-0 in conference play.
- This was the second time this season that Middlebrooks has provided a dual clinching victory. She came from behind to win the No. 6 match against BYU, 7-6 (9), 4-6, 5-7, on February 3.
Santos vs. Ranked Opponents:
- Senior Bea Machado Santos (Lisbon, Portugal) knows what it takes to win Southeastern Conference matches. After recording five conference victories last season, on her way to earning Second Team All-SEC honors, Santos has returned to conference play and delivered three straight victories over ranked opponents, putting Mizzou in a position to win all three of its conferences duals.
- This last weekend Santos earned victories over the No. 85 and No. 116 ranked singles players. She had defeated then ranked No. 88 Mia Jurasic of Arkansas the previous week.
- The victories extend Santos' singles win streak to six matches, tied for the longest such streak for any player on the team this spring.
- Santos now has nine career victories over ranked opponents, eight in conference play and three occurring this season.
Scouting No. 41 Mississippi State
- Mississippi State enters play this weekend with an 8-4 record, 1-3 in Southeastern Conference play.
- The Bulldogs are coming off of a tough weekend, losing both of their matches 6-1 against No. 10 Vanderbilt and No. 14 Kentucky.
- Mississippi State had a five match winning streak to close out conference play, but has dropped three of its first four matches in the SEC.
- The Bulldogs are led by their senior, Jasmine Lee. Lee is ranked No. 57 in singles play and, along with her freshman partner Lisa Marie Rioux, No. 13 in doubles. Lee is coming off of a two-set victory over No. 16 Aldila Sutjiadi of Kentucky in her latest match.
Scouting No. 25 Ole Miss
- Ole Miss holds a 10-4, 1-2 SEC record heading into the weekend.
- The Rebels also had a tough weekend last week, falling in both of their matches to No. 10 Vanderbilt (5-2) and No. 14 Kentucky (4-2).
- Ole Miss is led by its junior, Arianne Hartono. Hartono comes in ranked No. 47 in singles and No. 33 in doubles, with her partner freshman Anna Vrbenska.
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