Men's Tennis Bests Yale at Arthur Ashe Invitational

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- After losing their first match of the season on Friday, the Michigan State men's tennis team bounced back in a big way on Saturday, January 19 to defeat Yale, 4-2, at the Arthur Ashe Invitational in West Point, N.Y.

With a 3-1 record, the Spartans are off to their best start since the 2015-16 season where they also started 3-1 following wins over Texas Arlington, Wright State and Toledo. MSU handed the Bulldogs of Yale their first loss of the season as their record now stands at 2-1.

With wins in doubles and at No. 2 singles, Yale opened with a 2-0 lead over Michigan State. Freshman Carson Gates cut the deficit in half with a win at No. 4 singles, improving his winter singles record to 3-1. Senior Ivan Rakic evened the score shortly thereafter, needing just two sets to earn a Spartan victory at No. 3 singles.

Despite a closely contested second set, freshman Nick Williams provided Michigan State with a 3-2 lead following a 6-4, 7-5 victory at No. 5 singles. With MSU leading 3-2 it all came down to sophomore Jack Winkler and freshman Anthony Pero to close out one of their matches with a win.

Pero rallied back after dropping the first set of his No. 6 singles match against Dennis Wang to defeat the Bulldog, in sets two and three by scores of 6-1 and 6-4. With the win at No. 6 singles, Winkler's match went unfinished. Pero previously sealed victory for Michigan State on January 12, winning a three-set match over Xavier's Michael Lee.

#V4MSU Freshman Anthony Pero gives the Spartans the win with a 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 win at 6️⃣! pic.twitter.com/w01KwiGZMk
— Michigan State Men's Tennis (@MSU_Tennis) January 20, 2019

COACH ORLANDO'S THOUGHTS
"It was a great win for our team tonight," said Michigan State head coach Gene Orlando. "The team bounced back from a tough loss against Army yesterday to pick up a quality win tonight! We've got a quick turnaround now with a good Cal Poly team."

UP NEXT
MSU is back in action tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. ET as they take on the Mustangs of Cal Poly from the Lichtenberg Indoor Tennis Center in West Point, N.Y. Cal Poly is 1-1 thus far in 2019 following a 4-2 win over Army on Saturday.

Michigan State 4, Yale 2
Doubles - Yale earns doubles point
#1: Dylan King/Michael Sun def. Jack Winkler/John Carlin, 6-2
#2: Ryan Cheng/Cody Lin def. Ivan Rakic/Anthony Pero, 6-3
#3: Billy Shisler/Nick Williams vs. Andrew Heller/Arnav Dhingra, 5-2 (unfinished)

Singles
#1: Jack Winkler vs. Michael Sun (2-6, 6-1, 5-5) (UF)
#2: Dylan King def. John Carlin (6-2, 6-1)
#3: Ivan Rakic def. Ryan Cheng (6-4, 6-4)
#4: Carson Gates def. Arnav Dhingra (6-3, 6-2)
#5: Nick Williams def. Cody Lin (6-4, 7-5)
#6: Anthony Pero def. Dennis Wang (6-7, 6-1, 6-4)

Next Event

Team Stats

Players Mentioned

John Carlin

Carson Gates

Anthony Pero

Ivan Rakic

Billy Shisler

Nick Williams

Jack Winkler