DALLAS – No. 4 Stanford men’s tennis wrapped up its stint at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships with its third consecutive 4-3 decision, falling to No. 6 Mississippi State in a rematch of last season’s NCAA quarterfinal. The Cardinal falls to 7-3 this season.
For the third-consecutive day at the tournament, Stanford was triumphant in doubles. With leads on all three courts, Mark Krupkin and Hudson Rivera were the first victors in the third positions, 6-1, while Alex Chang and Alex Razeghi, who went 3-0 at No. 1 doubles in Dallas, clinched the advantage with a 6-3 win on court one.
Needing three singles matches to clinch, the Bulldogs responded to the doubles defeat with four singles first sets. The lead, however, was pushed to 3-0 for Stanford after clinical performances from Alex Razeghi on court five, 6-1, 6-0, and Jagger Leach on court four, 6-4, 6-2. Razeghi went 3-0 in singles at the ITA finals site, while Leach finished at 2-1 overall.
Samir Banerjee pulled his match to a third set on court one, winning a 6-2 second set, but Mississippi State rallied to complete the comeback.
Stanford returns to action with the ACC opener on Feb. 27 at North Carolina. The first serves are set for 1 p.m. PT.
No. 6 Mississippi State 4, No. 4 Stanford 3
DOUBLES
1) No. 29 Chang/Razeghi (STAN) d. No. 6 Jovanovich/Martinez Sanchez (MSU), 6-3
2) Godsick/Leach (STAN) led Martinez Serrano/Novansky (MSU), 5-3 uf
3) Krupkin/Rivera (STAN) d. Hernandez Cortes/Vaksmann (MSU), 6-1
Order of Finish: 3-1
SINGLES
1) No. 45 Benito Sanchez Martinez (MSU) d. Samir Banerjee (STAN), 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
2) No. 6 Petar Jovanovic (MSU) d. No. 53 Hudson Rivera (STAN), 6-4, 6-4
3) No. 33 Mario Martinez Serrano (MSU) d. No. 80 Alex Chang (STAN), 6-3, 6-4
4) Jagger Leach (STAN) vs. Raphael Vaksmann (MSU), 6-4, 6-2
5) Alex Razeghi (STAN) d. Michal Novansky (MSU), 6-1, 6-0
6) No. 68 Bryan Hernandez Cortes (MSU) d. Mark Krupkin (STAN), 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish: 5, 4, 6, 2, 3, 1