Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State Hosts Top 25 Pair This Weekend
4/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Spartans (11-10, 2-2) return to East Lansing this weekend for the first of five straight conference home matches. No. 24 Northwestern (14-7, 3-2) will be at MSU on Friday at 12 p.m., and No. 3 Illinois (17-3, 5-0) will visit Saturday at 12 p.m.
"We have played some great teams this year," head coach Gene Orlando said. "We have played Duke, Texas, Georgia, Ohio State. Now we have two great teams coming to us, that we get to play at home."
"We have our work cut out for us," Orlando said. "However, I like that everyone has a Big Ten win in singles, and a Big Ten win in doubles."
Northwestern and Illinois will be the 13th and 14th ranked opponents for MSU.
"When we play these teams we match up Spartan against Wildcat, Spartan against Fighting Illini," Orlando said. "This is what we have been working hard for, and this is what we play for."
Spartans in the Rankings
Harry Jadun and John Patrick Mullane are ranked No. 17 in the nation in doubles.
Last Time Out
Michigan State split its weekend matches, falling in a tough match at Nebraska, 4-3, and rallying for a win on the road against No. 54 Iowa.
Gijs Linders earned a No. 1 singles victory over No. 96 Matt Hagan of Iowa, and JP Mullane went 2-0 on the weekend in his matches. Brett Forman clinched the Iowa match with a win over Dominic Patrick.
What to Expect from the Northwestern Wildcats
Northwestern has wins over No. 18 Vanderbilt, No. 28 Columbia, No. 38 Harvard, No. 44 Indiana, No. 49 Penn State, No. 55 Cornell, No. 58 Arkansas, Boise State, IUPUI, Middle Tennessee State, Purdue, UIC, Valparaiso and Western Illinois.
The Wildcats own losses to No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 Illinois, No. 5 Duke, No. 11 Ohio State, No. 34 NC State, No. 35 Notre Dame and No. 48 Rice.
Northwestern has No. 92 Sam Shropshire and No. 124 Strong Kirchheimer in singles, and the No. 69 duo of Shropshire and Aelx Pasareanu in doubles.
Michigan State is 27-46 all time against Northwestern. The two teams have split the last eight meetings, 4-4.
What to Expect from the Illinois Fighting Illini
Illinois has victories over No. 2 Baylor, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 9 Texas, two wins over No. 11 Ohio State, No. 19 North Carolina, No. 24 Northwestern, No. 33 California, No. 35 Notre Dame, No. 44 Indiana, No. 49 Penn State, Ball State, Green Bay, Kentucky, Purdue, Toledo and Valparaiso.
The Fighting Illini have losses to No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Georgia and No. 10 TCU.
Michigan State is 28-54 all time against Illinois.
The Fighting Illini have No. 22 Jared Hiltzik, No. 42 Tim Kopinski, No. 50 Aleks Vukic, No. 52 Aron Hiltzik and No. 64 Farris Gosea. In doubles, Illinois has the No. 11 pair of Kopinski and Ross Guignon, and the No. 75 doubles team of Jared Hiltzik and Kopinski.
