Sunday, March 14
East Lansing, MI
12 P.M.
Michigan State University
2
vs
5
Penn State
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications
Spartans Fall to Penn State
3/14/2021 3:14:00 PM | Men's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State men's tennis team claimed the doubles point, but Penn State came back to win, 5-2, Sunday afternoon at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility.
"We took some momentum from the doubles match and won two first sets in singles (No. 3, No. 6), and had chances getting that third set (No. 1, lost in a tiebreak), but Penn State just played better singles that we did," said MSU head coach Gene Orlando. "They are a good team, but if we just took advantage of a few opportunities and turned the momentum our way, it could have gone a different way, but we weren't able to do that. Penn State has a pretty good singles lineup. Winning the doubles point is great, but you have to come out and play some singles. We gave it our best, but it just wasn't good enough today."
The Spartans got off to an early lead by earning the doubles point. Reed Crocker and Drew Keene made quick work of Alp Sentay and Christos Antonopoulo on the second court, 6-3, but Christian Lakoseljac and Sam Bossem topped John Carlin and Graydon Lair at No. 3, 6-3. Nick Williams and Kazuki Matsuno, who defeated the No. 37 ranked doubles in the nation on Friday vs. Ohio State, went 2-0 for the weekend by clinching the doubles point for MSU with a 6-4 win against Tim Ruetzel and Charl Morgan.
Unfortunately for MSU, the Nittany Lions rallied for wins in five of the six singles matches. Penn State won in straight sets at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 2 to take a 3-1 lead. PSU clinched the dual on Lakoseljac's 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 victory at No. 1 singles over Josh Mukherjee.
At No. 6 singles, Graydon Lair won the first set against Morgan, 6-2, but fell in three sets (2-6, 6-4, 6-1).
On the third court, Williams recorded MSU's second point of the day, outlasting Antonopoulo in three sets, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
Michigan State (2-6, 2-4 Big Ten) heads to the road next weekend for matches at Nebraska (Friday, March 19) and Iowa (Sunday, March 21).
"We took some momentum from the doubles match and won two first sets in singles (No. 3, No. 6), and had chances getting that third set (No. 1, lost in a tiebreak), but Penn State just played better singles that we did," said MSU head coach Gene Orlando. "They are a good team, but if we just took advantage of a few opportunities and turned the momentum our way, it could have gone a different way, but we weren't able to do that. Penn State has a pretty good singles lineup. Winning the doubles point is great, but you have to come out and play some singles. We gave it our best, but it just wasn't good enough today."
The Spartans got off to an early lead by earning the doubles point. Reed Crocker and Drew Keene made quick work of Alp Sentay and Christos Antonopoulo on the second court, 6-3, but Christian Lakoseljac and Sam Bossem topped John Carlin and Graydon Lair at No. 3, 6-3. Nick Williams and Kazuki Matsuno, who defeated the No. 37 ranked doubles in the nation on Friday vs. Ohio State, went 2-0 for the weekend by clinching the doubles point for MSU with a 6-4 win against Tim Ruetzel and Charl Morgan.
Unfortunately for MSU, the Nittany Lions rallied for wins in five of the six singles matches. Penn State won in straight sets at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 2 to take a 3-1 lead. PSU clinched the dual on Lakoseljac's 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 victory at No. 1 singles over Josh Mukherjee.
At No. 6 singles, Graydon Lair won the first set against Morgan, 6-2, but fell in three sets (2-6, 6-4, 6-1).
On the third court, Williams recorded MSU's second point of the day, outlasting Antonopoulo in three sets, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
Michigan State (2-6, 2-4 Big Ten) heads to the road next weekend for matches at Nebraska (Friday, March 19) and Iowa (Sunday, March 21).
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,1
#1 Singles Match
12
Christian Lakoseljac / 0 [PSU]
76
61
#2 Singles Match
12
Bora Sengul / 0 [PSU]
66
42
#3 Singles Match
123
Christos Antonopoulo / 0 [PSU]
174
656
#4 Singles Match
12
Miko Eala / 0 [PSU]
66
13
#5 Singles Match
12
Tim Ruetzel / 0 [PSU]
66
24
#6 Singles Match
123
Charl Morgan / 0 [PSU]
266
641
Order of Finish:
4,2,5,1,6,3
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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