The Lady Hornets (0-1) showed a lot of competitiveness against the Lady Bulldogs (1-0) and it was a match that was pleasing to head coach Aunk Christiansz.
 
"We did very well in this match and I was very impressed with our competitiveness against an SEC team," Christiansz said.  "It was a great start and we showed we have made some progress."
 
The Lady Bulldogs won the doubles points by winning all three sets.  Alexander Perper and Timea Guibe were able to beat ASU's Arantxia Wijngaarde and Pauline Denis 6-1 at one doubles.
 
Both doubles matches at two and three were 6-0 wins for MSU with Georgiana Patrasc and Naomi Tran beating Brakica Orlovic and Irina Cvijovic at two and Rosie Dion and Petra Ferancova defeating Nathalie Lorenco and Giovanna Lombardi at three.
 
Things got off to a good start for the Lady Hornets in singles play when Lombardi was leading MSU's Ferancova 2-1 in the first set at six singles when Ferancova had to retire handing ASU the point.
 
The most exciting match of the day came at one singles where ASU's Arantxia Wijngaarde battled 84^th ranked Georgiana Patrasc into a third set tie break before falling.  Patrasc won the opening set 6-1 only to see Wijngaarde come battling back to take the second set 6-3, sending the match into a third set where Patrasc was able to win it 10-4.
 
ASU's Pauline Denis fought hard in two singles before falling to Perper 6-2, 6-1.  Guibe defeated Cvinova 6-0, 6-2 at three singles and Tran handed Orlovic a 6-0, 6-2 loss at four.  Dion defeated Lorenco 6-0, 6-0 at five singles.
 
"We were able to pick up the win in six singles and could have easily picked up a win against the 84^th ranked player in the country at one singles, so it was really quite exciting," Christiansz said.  "We still have a lot of bugs to work out but it was tremendous the competitive way we played today.  I am really excited about the future of the program."
 
The Lady Hornets will hit the courts for a week of practice before traveling to Mobile, Sunday, Jan. 26 to face South Alabama at 1 p.m.
 
Mississippi State 6, Alabama State 1?
January 19, 2014 – A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre – Starkville, Miss.
 
Doubles
1) Timea Guibe/Alexandra Perper (MSU) def. Pauline Denis/Arantxia Wijngaarde (ASU) 6-1
2) Georgiana Patrasc/Naomi Tran (MSU) def. Irina Cvijovic/Brankica Orlovic (ASU) 6-0
3) Rosie Dion/Petra Ferancova (MSU) def. Giovanna Lombardi/Nathalie Lorenco (ASU) 6-0
 
 Singles
1) No. 84 Patrasc (MSU) def. Wijngaarde (ASU) 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (4)
2) Perper (MSU) def. Denis (ASU) 6-2, 6-1
3) Guibe (MSU) def. Cvijovic (ASU) 6-2, 6-0
4) Tran (MSU) def. Orlovic (ASU) 6-1, 6-0
5) Dion (MSU) def. Lorenco (ASU) 6-0, 6-0
6) Lombardi (ASU) def. Ferancova (MSU) 2-1 (ret., due to injury)