Men's Tennis Drops Match at Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. – Michigan State men's tennis fell to No. 25 Northwestern, 6-1, Friday night on the road in Evanston.

The Wildcats improved to 13-7 on the season, 3-1 in conference action, while the Spartans are now 13-8 with an 0-3 mark in Big Ten matches.

Northwestern took the doubles point to start the dual, picking up wins on the top two courts. At No. 3 doubles, Josh Mukherjee and Anthony Pero were tied up 5-5 with Natan Spear and Trice Pickens before the match was cut short.

The Spartans picked up one win on the day from Luke Baylis at No. 3 singles. Northwestern won the first three singles matches to clinch the dual, going on to earn two more points as the match played out.

Jack Winkler battled on the top court with No. 37-ranked Steven Forman, losing the first set but finding a 6-4 win in the second set to force a tiebreaker. Forman won the super tiebreaker by a 10-5 margin.

Freshman Max Sheldon also played to a tiebreaker with Northwestern's Simen Bratholm. Sheldon was down 5-7 after the first match but evened it up after a 7-6 victory in set two. The tiebreaker was a close fight with Bratholm pulling out the win, 10-8.

Baylis went into a battle with Pickens at the third court. Baylis won the first set 7-6 but was temporarily stalled by Pickens' win in the second set, 6-2, to force the super tiebreaker. Baylis went ahead 10-6 to earn the win and improve his singles record to 19-12 on the season.

Nick Williams and Josh Portnoy both fell in straight sets on the No. 5 and 6 courts. Williams was bested by Felix Nordby 6-3, 6-1, while Portnoy went up against Brian Berdusco, falling 6-2, 6-4.

The Spartans are back in action on Sunday against Illinois. The match in Urbana, Illinois is set to begin at 1 p.m. ET at the Atkins Tennis Center.

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Luke Baylis

Josh Mukherjee

Anthony Pero

Josh Portnoy

Max Sheldon

Nick Williams

Jack Winkler