Michigan State University Athletics
Men's Tennis Travels to Ann Arbor
3/16/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 16, 2012
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State is currently on a three game winning streak which it looks to continue against rival Michigan on Saturday. The Spartans are coming off victories in last weekend's double header against Ball State and Cleveland State along with a win on the road verse Marquette. Saturday's match will take place at 12 p.m. at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. This is the Spartans second conference match of the season after falling to Ohio State earlier in the year.
Michigan Scouting
The Wolverines are 7-4 on the year and ranked No. 25 as they open Big Ten play against the Spartans. Michigan is also currently on a three game winning streak coming into Saturday's match, with all three wins coming on the road. Michigan has fallen against both ranked opponents it has faced this season dropping matches against No. 10 Duke and No. 21 Texas Tech by scores of 4-3. The Wolverines have a 93-19 all-time record against the Spartans including 6-1 wins in each of the past two seasons.
Last Time Out
Last Thursday MSU traveled to Milwaukee, Wisc. to take on the Golden Eagles of Marquette. The Spartans were able to come away with a 4-3 victory to finish out non-conference play. Michigan State started the day dropping two of the doubles matches on courts one and two before a victory by Denis Bogatov and Gijs Linders on court three but were unable to pick up the first point. The close play continued into the singles matches where the two teams continued trading points. Gijs Linders picked up the first point of the day for the Spartans on court six before Denis Bogatov suffered a defeat on court two. Aaron Pfister was able to tie the score again at 2-2 with a win on court one before Marquette picked up their last point of the day on court four. MSU then gained the final two points to come away with a 4-3 victory as both Drew Lied and Ronnie Hulewicz won their matches on courts five and three respectively.
Conference Kudos
The Spartans have picked up two weekly Big Ten awards this season with the most recent recipient being Denis Bogatov. The Gurnee, Ill. native notched a 2-0 singles and 2-0 doubles record on Jan 14 and helped the Spartans improve to 3-0 in dual action in their tripleheader against Bradley, Morehead State and Wright State.
Earlier this season, Aaron Pfister also picked up an individual Big Ten accolade after being crowned the conference's indoor champion in Iowa City back in November 2011. The sophomore went undefeated, posting a perfect 6-0 singles record on his way to winning the title and also advanced to the final round of the Flight A doubles draw during the tournament.
Meet the Spartans
The Michigan State men's tennis team will feature a student-athlete every week this spring in attempt to "Meet the Spartans". This week senior Ronnie Hulewicz (Tequesta, Fla.) sat down with msuspartans.com to answer some questions about his senior season and why he chose to come to MSU. Next week, Spartan fans will get to know junior Will Davis.
Next Up
MSU will stay on the road as they continue Big Ten play against Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Spartans first travel to Minneapolis to take on the Gophers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday March, 23 before they head to Madison to face the Badgers at 1 p.m. on Sunday March, 25.
