Michigan State University Athletics
On the Road Again...to Georgia
1/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The University of Georgia will be hosting No. 62 Michigan State (1-2) this weekend, along with No. 60 Utah and No. 55 Elon, in the ITA Kickoff.
The Spartans' are matched up against the No. 8 Bulldogs of Georgia first, scheduled to begin Friday at 1 p.m. Elon and Utah will begin play at 9 a.m.
"We are excited to be in our third ITA Kickoff," head coach Gene Orlando said. "It's the equivalent to the National Indoor Championships (in the fall), and we're excited to play one of the best team's in the country.
The winner of the MSU/Georgia match will play the winner of Elon/Utah on Sunday at 1 p.m. The losers of the two matches will faceoff Saturday at 5 p.m.
"We will just take it one point at a time, and see if we can build that into a big win," Orlando said.
Last Time Out
The Spartans beat North Carolina A&T State in their previous match, 7-0. Michigan State wrapped up its tour of the state of North Carolina, falling to the then-No. 12 Duke Blue Devils, 7-0, and dropping a tough dual match to then-No. 28 North Carolina State. Senior Doug Zade saw action at the No. 6 spot in singles against NC A&T, as Harry Jadun did not play. Freshman Jasper Koenen participated in his second match, with John Patrick Mullane sitting out singles play against NC State and the entire NC A&T match with a shoulder injury.
Building on the Win
Michigan State seemed to turn things around against the Wolfpack. While the score shows a 4-1 loss, the Spartans nearly won the doubles point, and were missing Mullane in his usual No. 1 singles position. That momentum clearly carried over to the 7-0 clobbering of the NC A&T Aggies.
"As a team, we are aiming to improve on last weekend and show that we've moved forward," senior Gijs Linders said.
What to Expect from Georgia
Sitting at No. 8, Georgia will be the highest-ranked team Michigan State will have played yet this year. The Bulldogs have four players ranked in singles (No. 11 Austin Smith, No. 15 Nathan Pasha, No. 32 Wayne Montgomery and No. 101 Nick Wood) and three pairs ranked in doubles (No. 16 Ben Wagland/Paul Oosterbaan, No. 34 Austin Smith/Eric Diaz and No. 53 Nathan Pasha/Wayne Montgomery).
The Spartans will be the first dual match for Georgia. The Bulldogs participated in the MLK Invitational last weekend, competing against Georgia Tech, Columbia and Oklahoma. Georgia won 16 matches overall in the tournament.
The Bulldogs are 5-2 all-time against the Spartans, winning the last meeting in 1986 in East Lansing, 9-0.
Keeping An Eye on the Young
With Mullane out of the lineup for MSU, the team will get another look at freshman Jasper Koenen, as well as fellow freshman Michael Dube, who has been in the lineup all season.
"We are excited to see the younger guys compete," Jadun said. "Usually guys take a big leap forward after their first couple of matches."
Koenen is 1-1 in singles play this spring (5-4 overall), with a 1-0 mark in doubles (4-0 overall). Dube is 1-1 in singles for the spring (4-5 overall), and is 1-1 in doubles with sophomore Mac Roy (8-3 overall).
Live stats can be found here: http://www.georgiadogs.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm
Gameday Central: http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/012015aab.html
