Match Road Swing at South Carolina, Florida

Sunday,March13 at 4p.m. CT

Columbia, S.C. | Carolina Tennis Center

Match 16

No. 7Mississippi Statevs No. 14 South Carolina

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Sunday,March15 at 11a.m. CT

Gainesville, Fla. | Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex

Match 17

No. 7Mississippi Statevs No. 22 Florida

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 7 Mississippi State begins a two-match SEC road swing this weekend, starting Friday against No. 14 South Carolina before traveling to face the No. 22 Florida Gators on Sunday.

Mississippi State holds a 26-14 advantage in the all-time series with South Carolina and has found success in Columbia with a 9-7 record on the road. Under head coach Matt Roberts, the Bulldogs have gone 10-4 against the Gamecocks and will look to continue that momentum in Friday's matchup.

South Carolina enters the contest with a 10-3 overall record and a 3-2 mark in SEC play. The Gamecocks feature three ranked singles players in No. 16 Lucas Andrade da Silva, No. 40 Sean Daryabeigi and No. 100 Paul Barbier Gazeu. In doubles, the tandem of Barbier Gazeu and Andrade da Silva sits at No. 10 nationally, while Daryabeigi pairs with Max Stenzer at No. 24 and also teams with Andrade da Silva at No. 55.

Following Friday's match, the Bulldogs will travel to Gainesville to face Florida. Mississippi State defeated the Gators 4-1 earlier this season in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships and has won the last four meetings in the series.

Florida enters the weekend with a 7-8 overall record and a 1-4 mark in SEC play, with its lone conference victory coming against Kentucky. The Gators are led by four ranked singles players including No. 31 Pablo Perez Ramos, No. 50 Henry Jefferson, No. 67 Jeremy Jin and No. 87 Adhithya Ganesan. In doubles, the pair of Tanapatt Nirundorn and Jefferson ranks No. 20 nationally, while Lorenzo Claverie and Jefferson are ranked No. 89.

Mississippi State Notes

• Petar Jovanovic holds the all-time program wins record for singles and doubles victories.

• Both Mario Martinez Serrano and Niccolo Baroni are perfect in singles to start conference play.

• The No. 5 tandem of Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez are currently on a four game win strak, their highest of the season.

• Petar Jovanovic, Mario Martinez Serrano, and Raphael Vaksmann have all reached 10 singles victories this season.

• Head Coach Matt Roberts holds the record for most wins in program history with 225 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.

• All four of Mississippi States's conference victories have been over ranked opponents, No. 8 Georgia, No. 37 Vanderbilt and No. 61 Tennessee 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 above .500 at every singles position through the opening stretch of the season.

• 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 1,121-646-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch

• Jovanovic has 90 career doubles wins, making him third-most all-time. He sits just seven wins away from Laurent Miquelard's (1992-95) total of 97.

• Jovanovic currently has 61 career dual match doubles wins. He is just three 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 102. He is now one win away from jumping into 4th all-time.

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

Mississippi State intheITA Rankings

Team Ranking – 7th

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.South Carolina

• Mississippi State is 26-14 all-time versus South Carolina

• The Bulldogs hold a 9-7 advantage in Columbia

• In the Matt Roberts era, the Dawgs are 10-4

• In 2025, the Bulldogs and Gamecocks split wins, State winning the regular season matchup and Carolina in the SEC tournament.

Series History vs.Florida

• Mississippi State is 23-41 all-time versus Florida

• Florida holds a 14 win advantage in Gainesville, 6-20

• Mississippi State and Florida met in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoors in January, the Bulldogs emerged victorious, 4-1

• Mississippi State has won the past four meetings against the Gators

• Matt Roberts is 7-9 all-time against Florida

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

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