|
Three Bulldogs Selected To 2013 NCAA Individual Championships
STARKVILLE,
Miss. – After the Mississippi State men’s tennis squad learned Tuesday
that they would be hosting the NCAA Team Championship's First &
Second Rounds for the second-straight season, three Bulldogs have
earned spots in the singles and doubles field of the NCAA Individual
Championships in Champaign, Ill.
This marks the
third-consecutive season that the Bulldogs have sent at least one
representative to the NCAA Individual Championships in singles or
doubles and the 28th year all-time.
Romain
Bogaerts, who is currently ranked 10th nationally, earned the No. 6
national seed in singles, the highest seed a MSU singles player has
received since Bulldog Marco Baron was the nation’s top seed in 2001.
Bogaerts enters postseason play with an overall record of 28-10, while
going 15-6 in dual match play and 6-3 in SEC action. The freshman
racked up numerous offseason conference awards, including being the
second Bulldog to be named SEC Freshman of the Year in the past three
years (Malte Stropp did so in 2011), while also being awarded All-SEC
First Feam and All-SEC Freshman Team honors. As a top 16 seed in this
year's singles draw, Bogaerts becomes Mississippi State's 21st
All-American in men's tennis.
Stropp, currently
ranked 59th nationally, is making his first career appearance in the
NCAA Singles Championship. The MSU junior put together 19 wins for the
2012-13 season, with 13 of those coming in dual match play. Four of
those dual match victories came against ranked opponents, with the most
impressive being a three-set victory against No. 5 Jonas Lutjen of Ole
Miss to help MSU retain the River Hills Cup. The junior also picked up
his second career All-SEC honor, as he was named to the All-SEC Second
Team for 2013.
The 12th-ranked State duo of Jordan
Angus and Stropp earned an at-large bid into the 32-team doubles field,
putting an MSU doubles squad in the NCAA Individual Championships for
the third time in the last four years. The duo put together 19
victories for the overall season, with nine coming in the spring. The
tandem put together an impressive fall, including capturing the 2012
USTA/ITA Southern Regional Doubles Championship. In the spring, Angus
and Stropp downed six ranked opponents, including the No. 1 duo of Dan
Cochrane and Andreas Mies of Auburn on March 1, the first time an MSU
doubles team has done so since 2001.
The NCAA
Singles and Doubles Championships will begin May 22 at the Atkins
Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill., following the conclusion of the NCAA
Team Championships played from May 16-21.
The singles and doubles brackets will be released at the conclusion of the Team Championship.
|
