Men's Tennis At Halfway Point Of Michigan Invitational

Oct. 11, 2003

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Three regional opponents, two from the Big Ten, joined the Michigan State men's tennis team at the Michigan Invitational. The tournament, which reached the midway point Saturday, Oct. 11, includes MSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Western Michigan and representatives from Northwestern in a hidden-dual format that affects only individual records.

Saturday's schedule included a loaded lineup of eight singles matches against Western Michigan, and MSU won six of the eight matches. Junior Andrew Formanczyk (Rochester Hills, Mich.) edged Ravi Pathanjali, 6-2, 2-6, 1-0(10-5). Juniors Cameron Marshall (Louisville, Ky.), Anthony Stefani (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) and Steve Srivastava (East Lansing, Mich.), sophomore Mike Brown (Portage, Mich.) and freshman Michael Flowers (Memphis, Tenn.) also contributed in MSU's six singles victories over WMU.

Meanwhile, MSU captured two doubles wins over the Broncos in three matches. Formanczyk and senior Chris Mitchell (Ann Arbor, Mich.) recorded an 8-4 triumph over Dan Grupp and Jose Orozco while Flowers and Srivastava nailed down their second win of the invitational with an 8-6 win over Tom Dennis and Jeff French.

The Spartans opened competition against Ohio State on Friday, Oct. 10 and took three of five matches from the Buckeyes. Formanczyk, Mitchell and Flowers each needed only two sets for their respective victories in singles play. Senior Eric Simonton (Annandale, N.J.) and Marshall upset the No. 42 ranked team in the nation, Scott Green and Ross Wilson of OSU, 8-6, in doubles while Flowers teamed up with junior Srivastava to defeat a combination of players from OSU (Ben Kirksey) and Michigan (Carey Rubin), 8-6.

Results for the Michigan State-Michigan battle Saturday evening were not available. The invitational concludes Sunday, with a full slate of matches.