MSU duo claims doubles title at Southern Intercollegiates

September 27, 2011

For Starkville Daily News

ATHENS, Ga. – Mississippi State’s top-seeded and seventh-ranked tandem of Louis Cant and Malte Stropp claimed the Division I doubles championship at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships Monday with a pair of victories.
Beginning the day in the semifinals, Cant and Stropp took down a tough Stetson opponent in Didrik Berg and Njal Stene 8-4.
In the finals, the MSU pair met Florida’s duo of Tripper Carleton and Spencer Newman, who would keep the match at an interesting pace.
Down 3-2 on serve early in the match, Cant and Stropp fought back to a break advantage at 4-3. But UF’s duo answered to even the match at 4-4. State’s tandem broke right back again to 5-4 and never looked back, holding serve the rest of the way for an 8-6 victory to claim the Division I crown.
“We were really impressed by Louis and Malte,” head coach Per Nilsson said. “They played a lot of tennis this weekend and improved every match. They have done a great job improving over this past year to become a great team for us. Now we have to head back and get prepared for the All Americans next weekend.”
Cant and Stropp finished the tournament 5-0, defeating players from four SEC schools including LSU, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Mississippi State returns to action this weekend October 1-8, at the All-Americans in Tulsa, Okla.