Michigan State University
Ball State
Michigan State Earns Two Road Wins
2/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State men's tennis team fought for two victories on the road, Feb. 4. MSU defeated Ball State 5-2 in an afternoon match before downing IUPUI 4-3 in an evening match. At the conclusion of the weekend Michigan State improved to a record of 4-3 on the spring season.
AGAINST BALL STATE
Michigan State defeated Ball State 5-2 in the first match of the day and it started with winning the doubles point. Spartan victories in the No. 2 and 3 singles sealed the starting deal for MSU. At No. 2 singles sophomore Billy Shisler and freshman Doug Francken downed BSU 6-1. Junior Brett Forman and sophomore Alexander Kim rounded out doubles with a 6-4 victory and MSU led 1-0 at the conclusion of doubles play. Juniors Jasper Koenen and Michael Dube did not play in No. 1 doubles due to the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles victories.
For his third consecutive win at No. 1 singles Forman defeated Lucas Anderson 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7). At the No. 2 singles Dube picked up a victory over BSU's Andrew Stutz 6-2, 7-6 (3). Koenen defeated Guzina 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the No. 3 spot. Kim picked up the final victory in singles for MSU when he defeated Nemanja Guzina 4-7, 7-5, 6-1 in the No. 4 singles spot. Francken and Shisler both lost their decisions in the No. 5 and No. 6 singles.
"Two incredible hard fought matches today," said head coach Gene Orlando. "The Ball State match we were pushed to the limit with 5 of the 6 singles matches going to a third set. Ball State is a very good team especially on their home court a quality road win"
AGAINST IUPUI
MSU picked up its second road victory of the day defeating IUPUI 4-3 in match play. No. 2 doubles partners Francken and Shisler picked up the lone doubles victory against IUPUI defeating Kyle Whittaker and Mikel Savvedra 6-0. Koenen and Dube fell to Bradley Luetschwager and David Beasley 6-3, while Harvey and Rakic fell in their decision at No. 3 doubles 6-4.
Dube earned a No. 1 singles victory defeating IUPUI's Steven Christie 6-1, 6-3. Koenen picked up a win at No. 2 singles defeating Jac Newis 7-5, 6-2. Kim battled at the No. 3 singles but ultimately fell in his decision 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 7-6 (7-2). Rakic also dropped his decision 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to David Beasley in the No. 4 singles slot. Shisler and Harvey closed out the match defeating their opponents in the No. 5 and No. 6 singles.
"Our second match against IUPUI was another tough battle," said Orlando. "The Jaguars played a great doubles point and and inspired singles but we stayed strong and fought thru adversity and got it done"
NEXT UP
Michigan State will conclude its seven-game road stretch on Feb. 11. MSU will play Western Michigan at 12 p.m. then will travel down to Chicago State for a 7 p.m. match. The following weekend, Feb. 17-18 Michigan State will return to the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility to host Army and Air Force over the President's Day Weekend.
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Players Mentioned
