No. 5 Mississippi State Hosts No. 61 Tennessee in a Ranked SEC Showdown

Friday, March 6 at 3 p.m. CT

Starkville, Miss. | A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre

Match 14

No. 5 Mississippi State vs No. 61 Tennessee

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STARKVILLE – No. 5 Mississippi State returns to the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre to host No. 61 Tennessee in SEC action, as the Bulldogs look to continue their strong start to the 2026 campaign.

State enters the matchup with momentum after securing a ranked victory on the road against No.18 Auburn. The Bulldogs have also claimed a ranked conference win over No. 37 Vanderbilt at home.

Senior Petar Jovanovic enters the match with 188 combined career singles and doubles victories. Jovanovic sits just one win shy of tying program great Nuno Borges' all-time record of 189 career wins. Ranked No. 8 nationally in singles, Jovanovic leads a Mississippi State lineup that features five players in the ITA singles rankings and three ranked doubles teams, including the No. 5 duo of Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez.

Under head coach Matt Roberts, the program's all-time wins leader with 223 victories, Mississippi State has established consistency across the lineup. The Bulldogs are .500 or better at every singles position this season and have demonstrated their balance by earning ranked wins both at home and on the road.

Tennessee leads the all-time series 39-23, including an 18-9 edge in Starkville. However, Mississippi State claimed the most recent meeting between the two programs with a 4-3 victory in Knoxville.

Mississippi State Notes

• Head Coach Matt Roberts holds the record for most wins in program history with 223 wins at the helm.

• The Bulldogs picked up their first top-five victory of the season defeating No. 4 Stanford 4-3 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

• Both of Mississippi States's conference victories have been over ranked opponents, No. 37 Vanderbilt at home and No. 18 Auburn on the road.

• Mississippi State opened the 2026 season with four consecutive road sweeps before returning home to sweep Santa Clara and Auburn at the ITA Kickoff Weekend to secure a birth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

• The Bulldogs are .500 or above at every singles position through the opening stretch of the season.

• Mississippi State earned its second and third ranked victories of the year at the ITA National Team Indoors over No. 4 Stanford and No. 23 Florida.

• Five Bulldogs are ranked in the ITA singles rankings, led by Petar Jovanovic at No. 8, the second highest-ranked player in the SEC.

• The Bulldogs have three doubles teams in the ITA Rankings for the first time this season. No. 5 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez are the highest ranked SEC duo.

• Junior Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes finds himself in the ITA doubles ranking for the first time in his career alongside Bryan Hernandez Cortes at No. 38.

• Seniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez return as ITA Doubles All-Americans, while Jovanovic also earned ITA Singles All-American honors after reaching the NCAA Individual Championships quarterfinals.

• Mississippi State posted 25 wins in 2025, tying the 1979 team for the most single-season victories in program history.

• In 2025, Benito Sanchez Martinez set single-season program records for dual-match wins in both singles and doubles.

• Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez are the winningest doubles pair in program history, surpassing Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic by nine victories.

• The Bulldogs return eight letterwinners from last season's NCAA quarterfinal squad.

• Mississippi State is in its 102nd season as a program, with an all-time record of 1,120-646-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch

• Petar Jovanovic sits at 188 career wins (singles and doubles). He trails the all-time leader, Nuno Borges by one win.

• Jovanovic has 88 career doubles wins, making him third-most all-time. He sits just nine wins away from Laurent Miquelard's (1992-95) total of 97.

• Jovanovic currently has 59 career dual match doubles wins. He is just five wins away from breaking Ramskogler's total for the for the most all-time.

• Jovanovic is now 5nd all-time in career singles wins with 100. He is now three wins away from jumping into 4th all-time.

• Mario Martinez Serrano and Petar Jovanovic reached 100 career singles wins against Auburn, Mar. 1.

Mississippi State in the ITA Rankings

Team Ranking – 5th

Singles

No. 8 – Petar Jovanovic

No. 39 – Mario Martinez Serrano

No. 55 – Benito Sanchez Martinez

No. 92 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes

No. 125 – Niccolo Baroni

Doubles

No. 5 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez

No. 38 - Bryan Hernandez Cortes and Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes

No. 72 – Mario Martinez Serrano and Michal Novansky

Series History vs. Tennessee

• Mississippi State is 23-39 all-time against the Volunteers.

• The Bulldogs are 9-18 against Tennessee at home.

• Mississippi State won the last meeting between the sides in Knoxville, 4-3.

• The Bulldogs and Tigers have met 12 times under head coach Matt Roberts; he is 7-5 all time.

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU Men's Tennis on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateMT"

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