Princeton University
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Mississippi State
Players Mentioned
Day Caps Win Over Mississippi State to Open Blue Gray Classic
February 21, 2015 | Men's Tennis
Blue Gray National Tennis Classic Live Scoring
Zack McCourt and Tom Colautti scored wins over ranked opponents and Alex Day provided the clincher as 50th-ranked Princeton beat 30th-ranked Mississippi State 4-3 Friday afternoon to open the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Alabama.
The win is Princeton's fourth over a ranked team in five tries this season as the Tigers' 8-1 record remains its best since 1979. The win, against the alma mater of Princeton's third-year head coach Billy Pate, also gives Princeton its first over a Southeastern Conference opponent since defeating Kentucky in 1996.
Though Princeton dropped the doubles point to start the afternoon, McCourt's and Colautti's wins atop the ladder coupled with those from Alabama native Dan Richardson on court six and the clincher from Alex Day on court four for the win. Colautti's win was his first of the spring in two chances and his first since defeating 117th-ranked JC Aragone of Virginia in fall play. McCourt improved to 3-1 against ranked opponents on the spring.
Princeton will have the chance for another win over a ranked opponent Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET against No. 35 Clemson.
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(50) Princeton (8-1) vs. (30) Mississippi State (7-3) Feb. 20, 2015 • Montgomery, Ala. |
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3 |
Doubles
| 1 | Colautti/McCourt (P) | DNF | Estevarena/Lakat (M) | 5-3 P |
| 2 | Day/Gamble (P) | |
(48) Cutura/Schmid (M) | 6-2 |
| 3 | Ben Tso/Yablon (P) | |
Cash/Haden (M) | 6-1 |
Singles
| 1 | (117) Zack McCourt (P) | |
(97) Florian Lakat (M) | 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 |
| 2 | Tom Colautti (P) | |
(99) Juan Cruz Estevarena (M) | 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 |
| 3 | Josh Yablon (P) | |
(84) Tassilo Schmid (M) | 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) |
| 4 | Alex Day (P) | |
Mate Cutura (M) | 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 |
| 5 | Luke Gamble (P) | |
Julian Cash (M) | 7-6, 6-4 |
| 6 | Dan Richardson (P) | |
Rishab Agarwal (M) | 6-1, 6-2 |
| Next match: vs. (35) Clemson, Saturday, Feb. 21, 12:30 p.m. ET, Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala. |
| Match notes: Mississippi State won the previous two meetings in 2012 and 2014 ... Princeton had gone 0-7 against SEC teams at the time of the match since the 1996 win over Kentucky. |
| Order of finish: Doubles: 3,2; Singles: 6,5,2,1,3,4 |
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Coach Billy Pate on the match: "We're very pleased to get a significant win today and move into the semis tomorrow against Clemson. I'm very proud of how our guys bounced back after losing doubles and also how we handled the cold outdoor conditions. We didn't have a lot of time to prepare, but this team is loaded with great competitors. We'll get right back to work for tomorrow's match." |