A Look Back At The 2004 Men's Tennis Team
5/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 25, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. - They played 28 regular-season dual matches during 2004. Of the 11 major men's tennis conferences in the NCAA, their amount was second only to Clemson which participated in 31. And once again, the Spartans experienced a season full of exciting, unforgettable victories, but emotional, unfortunate defeats as well that made the year one of the most memorable journeys the tennis program embarked upon in a long time.
Opening up the spring campaign, State experienced a tough loss before the season even got underway Jan. 17. Northern Arizona announced one day before the Spartans were to host Toledo and Wright State that assistant coach Albin Polonyi accepted the head coaching position for the Lumberjacks' men's and women's teams. Now flying solo, MSU's head coach Gene Orlando knew he had a difficult task ahead of him. However, he managed to rally a team with lofty goals towards its best start since 1961.
Ranked No. 59 in the first spring poll, the Green and White could not have begun their trip on a stronger note as they swept UT and WSU, failing to lose a set in singles and dropping only one doubles match on the afternoon. Entering the weekend, junior Andrew Formanczyk held a national ranking of No. 100, and of the 25 dual matches he would compete in, Formanczyk sat in the ITA singles poll for 23 of them. He helped his cause by winning his first seven contests of the year.
State duplicated the opening weekend with two more 7-0 home wins Jan. 24, this time over eventual Horizon League champion Butler and Cleveland State. The following weekend saw three matches in two days in East Lansing, but two of them came in the form of NCAA-tourney bound squads Louisville and Wake Forest. Amazingly, the Spartans moved to 5-0 Jan. 31 following a 4-3 victory over the Cardinals that saw State come back from a 3-1 deficit for the win. With the doubles point in hand, State witnessed UL win the first three singles matches, but freshman Joseph McWilliams, senior Eric Simonton and Formanczyk had other plans as each won their respective match to seal it. Unfortunately, the Demon Deacons halted Orlando's bunch from going 6-0 with a 5-2 triumph over the Spartans a day later. Freshman Michael Flowers and Formanczyk provided the two points for State, which also earned valiant
 Andrew Formanczyk and Chris Mitchell went 18-9 in dual matches this season.  | |
Two weeks off and State returned to the courts Feb. 14, traveling to Columbus, Ohio, for a grueling doubleheader with then-No. 8 Vanderbilt and Xavier. Little did the Spartans realize they would be coming home with one of Michigan State's biggest wins in the program's history. After taking two of three doubles matches from the Commodores for the first point, State's Formanczyk upset then-No. 55 Chad Harris and McWilliams topped Greg Sossaman, both in straight sets, for two more points. With the overall score knotted at 3-3, Simonton, who fell in the first set against Lewis Smith, squeaked out a 7-6(6) second set win and with all eyes on his match, took the third, 6-4, for the dramatic Spartan victory. MSU had enough energy left to get past Xavier that night, 6-1, to bring its record to 8-1.
Returning home, State suffered a setback Feb. 21, falling to Brown, 6-1, as McWilliams managed MSU's only point. It did post a 7-0 win over Dayton to wrap up the doubleheader but would be tested again Feb. 28 when Ball State came to town. Losing the doubles point, the Spartans dominated singles play, winning five matches for a 5-2 victory, and then capped off the day with a 6-1 win over UW-Green Bay. Two more marks in the win column meant State was off to an 11-2 start to the season, equaling the fastest it had recorded 11 Ws since 1961.
Again, momentum would be hard to come by when March came rolling around as State began the toughest portion of its schedule, including a Big Ten slate that featured eight matches against ranked competition. Notre Dame walked over the Spartans in South Bend March 2, 7-0, leaving State with a hunger to get back on the courts as soon as possible. They would have to wait one week and travel all the way to California for that opportunity.
March 9 rolled around and State put another win on the board, dismantling UC-Irvine, 5-2, in its first outdoor match of the year. However, its trip to Malibu, Calif., went unfulfilled the next day as Pepperdine took every match with Flowers earning MSU's only set in singles play.
A dynamic Western Michigan bunch gave the Spartans a rude welcome when they returned March 20 as the Broncos won a 5-2 decision in East Lansing. A 7-0 triumph over IPFW in the tail-end of the doubleheader did boost State's record to 13-5, but its next win would have to come in conference play, where Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan were next in line.
Most teams in the Big Ten were much improved compared to 2003, and MSU felt the effects immediately. The Buckeyes defeated the Spartans, 6-1, March 27, while the Nittany Lions edged State, 4-3, March 28. The Wolverines ended the month March 31 with a 4-3 win over State in Ann Arbor, giving their rivals an 0-3 start in the Big Ten.
Fortunately, the conference's youngest team came to town April 3 and the Spartans, who were No. 52 at the time, took advantage, walking over Iowa, 7-0, for their first regular season
 Eric Simonton leaves Michigan State with 71 career singles wins. | |
The Spartans suffered three more loses beginning April 9, this time against Indiana, Illinois and Purdue, as they fell in each contest, 6-1. However, their national ranking never went over the No. 60 mark as over the course of the season, they hovered anywhere from No. 45 to No. 59.
Desperately needing two wins to close out the conference season to earn a respectable seeding for the Big Ten Championships, Orlando and his boys got them. Having to go on the road, junior Cameron Marshall delivered the final blow to Wisconsin April 24 by winning a three-set battle over Scott Green at No. 2 for State's fourth and final point. The Spartans made it count at Northwestern April 25 by shocking the Wildcats, then ranked No. 42, 5-2, to complete the Big Ten at 3-7. Next up: hosting the Big Tens for the first time since 1997 beginning April 29 as a No. 9 seed and facing the No. 8 team in Michigan.
Having all 11 teams playing on their home courts may have been distracting enough for the Spartans, but add the pressure of facing their arch-rival which defeated them in the regular season and the media attention they were getting concerning the huge match-up and that could have created a disastrous result. One thing was for sure, Orlando knew how to prepare his team.
Though the Wolverines took a 1-0 lead after doubles, Simonton, Flowers, McWilliams and Marshall shined in singles for the four points they needed to send them into the
 Mike Brown and Anthony Stefani had breakthrough years as Brown posted 21 total victories and Stefani had 18 total wins in dual match play. | |
Overall, each student-athlete made the most of the season and it showed either through records or accolades. Formanczyk made the All-Big Ten team for the second year in a row and received his first ever Big Ten Player of the Week honor for his matches against Wisconsin and Northwestern. He also went on to post 25 overall singles wins and 23 doubles victories. Those doubles triumphs all came with partner Mitchell, who saved his best for last as the senior posted 21 singles wins and 24 doubles victories. McWilliams managed 20 singles wins in his first year wearing the Green and White while Marshall recorded 19, Simonton 18 and Flowers 17, who was also in his first year.
It will be tough, if not impossible, to replace senior co-captains Chris Mitchell and Eric Simonton come the 2004-05 campaign. But this summer will feature many new faces bound for East Lansing that, along with the returning Spartans, are sure to continue making the Michigan State men's tennis program one of the most entertaining in the nation.
