No. 3 Men’s Tennis takes 4-3 road victory at No. 10 Mississippi State

Monday, February 23

Starkville, Miss.

11 a.m. CT

University of Texas

Mississippi State

No. 3 Men’s Tennis takes 4-3 road victory at No. 10 Mississippi State

02.23.2026 | Men's Tennis

In a match that was moved indoors, the Longhorns rallied from a late 3-2 deficit after every singles contest went three sets.

Starkville, Miss. – No. 3 Texas Men's Tennis rallied for a 4-3 top-10 road victory at No. 10 Mississippi State in a match that was moved indoors to the Rula Tennis Pavilion on Monday in Starkville. The Longhorns trailed, 1-0 after the doubles point and 3-2 late before completing the comeback that moved them to 2-0 in Southeastern Conference play.

In its first match in Starkville since 1996, Texas started out coming up just short in the doubles point after a tiebreaker loss in the deciding match at No. 1. Mississippi State had earlier taken the match at No. 3 before the Longhorns evened it with a win at No. 2.

After doubles, every singles match ended up going the distance to three sets. Texas claimed the first two of those with wins by freshman No. 25 Kalin Ivanovski at No. 2, and sophomore Oliver Ojakaar at No. 5. However, the Mississippi State tied the match a split second later at No. 3 and reclaimed the lead moments after that at No. 4. That left two courts in play with the Longhorns needing both, which they secured with victories first by senior No. 3 Sebastian Gorzny at No. 1, and then freshman Lucas Marionneau at No. 6 for the clinch.

Doubles began with the No. 12 duo of Ojakaar and sophomore Sebastian Eriksson falling to Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes and Bryan Hernandez Cortes, 6-1, at No. 3. Ivanovski returned to the lineup after missing the last match and rejoined with Abel Forger for a top-50 win over No. 47 Mario Martinez Serrano and Michal Novansky, 6-4, at No. 2. That left it to No. 1 where the No. 25 pair of Gorzny and Marionneau face No. 4 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez and took it to a tiebreaker, but ultimately fell, 7-6 (4), to provide Mississippi State with the point.

Ivanovski was then first off the singles court and leveled the overall match with a top-10 win over No. 10 Jovanovic, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, at No. 2. Ojakaar then gave the Longhorns a brief lead by being the first to finish on almost simultaneous points with another ranked win over No. 55 Hernandez Cortes, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1, at No. 5. The other match to finish at that time was on the next court over at No. 3 where No. 40 Eriksson was downed by No. 43 Martinez Serrano, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-0. A short time later, No. 67 Forger fell to Raphael Vaksmann, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 4 to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 advantage in the overall match.

At that point, the Longhorns had break leads on the remaining courts with Gorzny maintaining his against No. 47 Sanchez Martinez, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-2, at No. 1. That left it to No. 6 where Ferrer Guimaraes had broken back against Marionneau, but Marionneau was able to get the break he needed for a 6-5 lead before serving it out for the team win.

The Longhorns will next continue their three-match opening road trip in conference play by travelling to face No. 34 South Carolina on Friday, February 27, at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.

#3 Texas 4, #10 Mississippi State 3

Singles – Order of Finish (2,5,3,4,1,6)
1. #3 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) def. #47 Be Sanchez Martinez (MSST) 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-2
2. #25 Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) def. #10 Petar Jovanovic (MSST) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4
3. #43 Ma Martinez Serrano (MSST) def. #40 Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-0
4. Raphael Vaksmann (MSST) def. #67 Abel Forger (TEX) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) def. #55 Br Hernandez Cortes (MSST) 6-4, 5-7, 6-1
6. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Ro Ferrer Guimaraes (MSST) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5

Doubles – Order of Finish (3,2,1)
1. #4 Petar Jovanovic/Be Sanchez Martinez (MSST) def. #25 Lucas Marionneau/Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) 7-6 (4)
2. Abel Forger/Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) def. #47 Ma Martinez Serrano/Michal Novansky (MSST) 6-4
3. Ro Ferrer Guimaraes/Br Hernandez Cortes (MSST) def. #12 Sebastian Eriksson/Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) 6-1

Individual Match Key Moments
(by order of finish)

Doubles No. 3: Ferrer Guimaraes/Hernandez Cortes (MSST) def. Eriksson/Ojakaar (TEX) 6-1
Match: Mississippi State had breaks for 2-0 and at deuce for 5-1.

Doubles No. 2: Forger/Ivanovski (TEX) def. Martinez Serrano/Novansky (MSST) 6-4
Match: Mississippi State held at deuce and broke for 2-0, but Texas broke back and held at deuce to even it. The Bulldogs again held at deuce for 3-2 and the Longhorns followed with a 3-0 run with the final two games held for the Texas win.

Doubles No. 1: Jovanovic/Sanchez Martinez (MSST) def. Marionneau/Gorzny (TEX) 7-6 (4)
Match: Mississippi State broke first for 3-2, but Texas broke back at deuce and the rest of the match was on serve to the tiebreaker. There, the Bulldogs won consecutive points for a 5-3 lead on the way to a 7-4 win.

Singles No. 2: Ivanovski (TEX) def. Jovanovic (MSST) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4
Set One: Ivanovski surrendered just one hold to Jovanovic for 1-1 and closed 5-0.
Set Two: Jovanovic finished the set on a 4-0 run after it was 2-2.
Set Three: Jovanovic broke first and consolidated for 4-1, but it was all Ivanovski from there including three deuce-point wins for 2-4, 3-4 and 5-4.

Singles No. 5: Ojakaar (TEX) def. Hernandez Cortes (MSST) 6-4, 5-7, 6-1
Set One: Ojakaar earned the only break for a 4-3 lead and had an earlier set point, but Hernandez Cortes held for 5-4 before Ojakaar served out.
Set Two: Ojakaar broke first for 5-4 on a deuce point, but Hernandez Cortes closed 3-0.
Set Three: Ojakaar broke and held at deuce for 2-0. After Hernandez Cortes held, Ojakaar finished 4-0.

Singles No. 3: Martinez Serrano (MSST) def. Eriksson (TEX) 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-0
Set One: The players alternated two games apiece starting with Martinez Serrano until 4-4 with three deuce points for Eriksson and one for Martinez Serrano. Eriksson later broke at deuce again for a 6-5 lead, but Martinez Serran broke back for a tiebreaker and used a 6-0 during that.
Sets Two: Eriksson closed on a 3-0 run for 6-3.
Set Three: Martinez Serrano won 6-0 including two deuce points.

Singles No. 4: Vaksmann (MSST) def. Forger (TEX) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Set One: The players exchanged breaks starting with Forger for 4-2 and then 4-3. After Vaksmann held at deuce for 4-4, Forger held and broke to win.
Set Two: Vaksmann earned the only break in the set, doing so at deuce for 2-1.
Set Three: Forger broke for a 3-1 lead, but Vaksmann went 5-0 from there with three deuce points.

Singles No. 1: Gorzny (TEX) def. Sanchez Martinez (MSST) 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-2
Set One: The players exchanged deuce-point breaks for 2-1 for Gorzny then 2-2. Sanchez Martinez broke at deuce for 4-2 and Gorzny went on a 3-0 run. The players finished with four-straight breaks to the tiebreaks.
Set Two: Sanchez Martinez collected the only break in the opening game.
Set Three: Gorzny won consecutive deuce points for 2-0, and after Sanchez Martinez responded to tie it, Gorzny went on a 4-0 run to win.

Singles No. 6: Marionneau (TEX) def. Ferrer Guimaraes (MSST) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
Set One: Ferrer Guimaraes broke on a deuce point for 3-2 and broke again for 6-3.
Set Two: The players exchanged deuce-point breaks for 2-2, and after Ferrer Guimaraes held for 3-2, Marionneau went on a 3-0 run with deuce point in the last two. The final two games were then held.
Set Three: Marionneau held at deuce to start a 3-0 run, but Ferrer Guimaraes answered it capped by a deuce point break. The players broke again in the next two games with another at deuce for Ferrer Guimaraes. Marionneau later broke at deuce for a 6-5 lead and served out the match.