Men's Tennis Returns to East Lansing to Host Louisville, Chicago State

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State men's tennis is back in action this weekend with a pair of matches against Louisville and Chicago State. The Spartans are returning from their first road trip of the season, having played a match against Western Michigan in Kalamazoo on Feb. 5, and will play at home the next four matches.

Competition will begin inside the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12, beginning with the match against Louisville. The nightcap match versus Chicago State is scheduled for 6 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State lost its first match of the season, 6-1, in a tough matchup against Western Michigan last weekend. The Broncos clinched the doubles point and won on five of the six singles courts. MSU picked up its sole point of the match from a win at No. 5 by Graydon Lair. Lair defeated WMU's Brogan Pierce in a three-set battle. After winning the first set 6-4, Lair fought out of a 5-7 second-set loss to win 7-5 in the third and clinch the match.

Three of MSU's singles matches were decided by a third set as the Spartans battled for each point. Max Sheldon at No. 4 won his first set 6-4 before he was overtaken by Arjun Honnappa in the final two sets to give WMU the win. Fynn Lohse and Luke Baylis also had a battle at the No. 3 court. After a loss in his first set Baylis put up a fight and won the second set 6-4. The match ended in Lohse's favor, however, as Baylis lost the third set by a 6-3 margin.

Jack Winkler, playing at No. 1 singles, forced his first set against Peter Kuszynski into extra points, but ended up falling 7-6, 6-4. Carson Gates fell in straight sets at the No. 2 court.

COACH ORLANDO'S THOUGHTS
"The Spartans are excited to return to action this weekend against ACC foe Louisville, and Chicago State. Both will be great challenges for our team. We have had a great week of practice and are prepared to play some great tennis this weekend."

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Spartans hold a 3-7 record all-time against Louisville, but are at an advantage with a 2-1 record against the Cardinals at home. Last time out, Michigan State suffered a 4-1 loss to Louisville in East Lansing during the 2015-16 season.

Michigan State is a solid 5-0 against Chicago State and are 2-0 in home matches. In January 2019, the Spartans completed a 4-1 victory over the Panthers at home. The team also faced off against Chicago State this past fall in individual matches during several of the team's fall tournaments.

HONORING A SPARTAN LEGEND
The Spartans will be honoring MSU tennis alum Dave Brogan during the first match of the day against Louisville at noon. Brogan has been a supportive member of the community and Spartan Tennis since his years as a member of the team.

The ceremony to honor Brogan will take place immediately following the doubles point against Louisville.

"Today is a special day for our program to pay tribute to Spartan Dave Brogan," Orlando commented. "Dave was a member of our program from 1954-56 and has been a long-time supporter of our Spartan Tennis Program. Our program would not be where it is today without him and his family, Team Brogan!"

UP NEXT
The Spartans are back in action next Sunday, February 20 at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. MSU is set to take on Middle Tennessee and Bellarmine starting with a match against the Blue Raiders at 12 p.m.

Men's Tennis Returns to East Lansing to Host Louisville, Chicago State

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Players Mentioned

Luke Baylis

Carson Gates

Graydon Lair

Max Sheldon

Jack Winkler