Michigan State University Athletics
Men's Tennis Hosts Big Ten Tournament Beginning Thursday
4/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 27, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
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This Week For The SpartansBig Ten Championships April 29-May 2 East Lansing
First Round - April 29 at 10 a.m.
No. 9 Seed Michigan State Spartans
(16-12 Overall, 3-7 Big Ten)
Head coach: Gene Orlando
Career (16th Season): 186-222
MSU (13th): 155-182
No. 8 Seed Michigan Wolverines
(13-8 Overall, 4-6 Big Ten)
Head coach: Mark Mees, 5th season with Michigan
(More information can be found by clicking on the Big Ten Championship logo found on both the MSU Spartans front page as well as the Men's Tennis home page.)
NEXT IN LINE: No. 56 Michigan State earned the ninth seed for this year's Big Ten Tournament, hosted by the Spartans, and will take on arch-rival No. 52 Michigan, the eighth seed. The battle is scheduled for Thursday, April 29, at 10 a.m. All matches are set to be played at the MSU Outdoor Courts but will be moved to the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility if weather does not cooperate.
MICHIGAN'S RESUME: The Wolverines defeated the Spartans in the regular season, 4-3, in Ann Arbor March 31, and went 3-4 following the victory to complete its Big Ten schedule at 4-6. Michigan began the year winning its first six matches, including victories over Wake Forest and Brown. In the regular season meeting between MSU and UM, the Wolverines took three doubles matches for the first point and three singles contests for the overall win. Andrew Formanczyk, then ranked No. 100, upset then-No. 49 Michael Rubin in a thrilling three-set battle while seniors Chris Mitchell and Eric Simonton also posted wins. Rubin has sat out Michigan's last four matches and has not played since April 10 in a 4-3 loss to Indiana.
LAST TIME OUT: MSU kept its hopes of attaining an NCAA Tournament berth alive by sweeping the final regular season weekend, defeating Wisconsin, 4-3, and then-No. 42
 Eric Simonton along with the rest of the Spartans will have their hands full this weekend.  | |
LAST YEAR'S TOURNAMENT: The Spartans posted their most dramatic victory of the season in the 2003 Big Ten Championships at Northwestern when they came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Purdue, 4-3. MSU was the No. 5 seed for the tournament and with the win, advanced to the semifinals where it lost to eventual NCAA champion Illinois, 4-0.
IT'S BEEN AWHILE: Michigan State will be hosting the Big Ten Championships for the first time since 1997. In a separate format for the tournament, the No. 9 Spartans defeated No. 10 Ohio State, 4-1, and then No. 8 Wisconsin, 4-0, in the first day of competition April 24 just to advance and play No. 1 Northwestern April 25. MSU fell to the Wildcats, 4-0, which dropped the Green and White into the loser's bracket where it suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Michigan April 26. The Spartans claimed seventh place as Penn State had to forfeit the final match because it met the NCAA limit for competition days. Illinois, the No. 3 seed, won the tournament by defeating Northwestern in the finals, 4-2.
PUTTING UP THE NUMBERS: With the Big Ten Tournament still to come, four Spartans have set new career highs in both singles and doubles. Those players include: senior Chris Mitchell, juniors Andrew Formanczyk and Anthony Stefani and sophomore Mike Brown.
Also, senior Eric Simonton reached the 70-win plateau in singles with a victory last weekend vs. Northwestern. Juniors Cameron Marshall and Andrew Formanczyk, meanwhile, are threatening the MSU career singles mark (90) set by Kevin Seckel from 1990-94 and both could do it next season. Marshall currently boasts 65 wins while Formanczyk has 64.
