Welcome back college tennis fans to this week’s SEC Roundup! We’ve now reached the point of the season where everyone begins to crunch the numbers to calculate their favorite team’s position as we get closer and closer to both the Conference and NCAA Tournament. It’s been another great week of tennis filled with plenty of exciting storylines to get into so with that being said, let’s get into it. One quick reminder: Be sure to tune in to our SEC Cross Court Cast on SECN/ESPN+ for all your conference viewing if you haven’t already!
Storylines of the Week
Contenders Rise Above
At this stage of the season, it now feels as though the top teams in the conference have solidified their place at the head of the table. At the top of the leaderboard, the #2 Aggies went 2-0 over the course of their SEC road trip with wins over both Alabama and Auburn. It was a nice 4-0 sweep over the Crimson Tide, but the defining win of the weekend for Texas A&M was their 5-2 victory against the Auburn Tigers. After grabbing wins at #1 and #2 Doubles, A&M was able to secure the doubles point, starting the match on the right foot. They then carried their momentum right into singles where Smetannikov had a dominant 6-1, 6-1 on court 5 over Okutoyi to get things rolling. After DJ Bennett got one back for Auburn at the #4 singles spot, it was Mia Kupres who put the Aggies up 3-1 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Kaitlyn Carnicella at #3 singles. After that, it was Jeanette Mireles at the #6 spot who clinched the victory for Texas A&M over Adeline Flach. Deciding to play out the rest of the match, the two teams split wins at the top two singles positions.
For Georgia, the big guns came to play in a 4-1 home victory over Tennessee. After performing a heist worthy of the Mission Impossible movies to capture the Doubles point, Georgia led 1-0 and stayed in front the rest of the way. At the start of singles action, No. 10 Dasha Vidmanova put on a dazzling display of tennis on court two, cruising to a 6-0, 6-1 win over No. 49 Elza Tomase. To get the score to 2-1, Tennessee’s Ester Adeshina secured a 6-0, 6-3 win over Guillermina Grant on court six. Soon after, 8th ranked Lea Ma notched a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 34 Rebeka Mertena to get the Dawgs within one point of the win. However, at 3-1 down, Tennessee continued to make a push and things could have gotten a bit dicey in Athens had Mell Reasco not managed to come through a tight one and get a scrappy 7-5, 6-4 win over Daria Kuczer at the #3 singles position.
Mississippi State Remains Frisky
Boy, is this Mississippi State team a fun one! After already notching some big upset victories over fellow SEC foes this season, the #12-ranked Bulldogs continue to impress. Down their only ranked singles competitors No. 108 Carles Hernandez and No. 123 Nemanja Malesevic, Mississippi State went down to Lexington and gave Kentucky quite the match. Despite losing the doubles point and quickly losing at 6 singles, they continued to battle as Gregor Ramskogler won in straight sets over Jaden Weekes at the #5 position. Soon after, Ewen Lumsden defeated #27 Alafia Ayeni in straight sets. Ultimately, the Wildcats clinched the win at 4-2 with wins on courts 1 and 3, but Michal Novansky still managed to get a tight three-set win on court 4. Despite the 4-3 loss, Mississippi State has proven they have the ability to be competitive with any team in the country and will continue to be a tough out for anyone.
SEC Teams in the Rankings
SEC Men’s Teams
For what feels like the millionth week in a row, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia have all continued to hold a spot in the Top 10 of the ITA Men’s rankings. However, there’s been some notable movement for each team, which has provided us with a different look than what we’ve gotten accustomed to so far. After being ranked at #6 this time last week, Kentucky now moves up to the #4 position, a spot that was held by South Carolina just last week. Unfortunately for South Carolina fans, the Gamecocks continue to slide down the rankings and now find themselves at #6, which ironically was where Kentucky landed in last week’s rankings. It wasn’t just South Carolina that moved down in this week’s rankings in the SEC as Georgia also fell from #7 to #8.
SEC Women’s Teams
For just the second week in a row, we have two SEC teams in the Top 10 of the Women’s Team Rankings. Unlike the Men’s side of things, not a single team in the Top 10 moved up or down. Once again, both the Texas A&M Aggies and the Georgia Bulldogs find themselves respectively ranked at the #2 and #4 positions.
Upcoming Marquee Matchup
#4 Kentucky at #8 Georgia
Where: Athens, GA
When: Fri. March 31, 2023
What time: 5:00 PM ET
Players to watch: #4 Ethan Quinn (UGA), #19 Philip Henning (UGA), #22 Liam Draxl (UK) #27 Alafia Ayeni (UK) #44 Joshua Lapadat (UK), #99 Blake Croyder (UGA), #116 Teodor Giusca (UGA)
How to watch: Cracked Racquets SEC Cross Court Coverage on SECN/ESPN+
