Wednesday, April 27
Iowa City, Iowa
3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. CT)
Michigan State University
at
Iowa
Photo by: Sarah Smith
Women’s Tennis to Clash with Iowa in First Round of Big Ten Tournament
4/26/2022 11:30:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Spartans Looking to Avenge Regular Season Loss to Hawkeyes
Big Ten Tournament First Round
#13 Michigan State (9-13, 1-10 B1G) vs. #12 Iowa (6-16, 2-9 B1G)
Date: Wednesday, April 27
Time: 2 p.m. CT (3 p.m. ET)
Location: Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex (Iowa City, Iowa)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Watch: Big Ten Plus
Tournament Central: BigTen.org
EAST LANSING, Mich. – After finishing the regular season on Sunday, the Michigan State women's tennis team will make the trek to Iowa City on Wednesday, April 27 for the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The No. 13-seed Spartans are set to begin play at 3 p.m. ET, taking on tournament host and 12th-seeded Iowa at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex.
Ending with a 1-10 record in conference play, MSU will look to advance to the second round of the B1G Tournament, which the team has reached every year during head coach Kim Bruno's tenure aside from the cancelled 2020 conference championship.
Michigan State is coming off a two-loss weekend at home to close out the regular season, dropping a 4-0 contest to No. 39 Northwestern on Saturday before falling by a 4-1 final to No. 47 Illinois on Sunday to spoil the Spartans' Senior Day.
The match with the Wildcats started with Northwestern winning the doubles point via victories on the second and third courts, as the top court went unfinished with senior Maja Pietrowicz and graduate student Mary Lewis holding a 4-3 lead over Clarissa Hand and Maria Shusharina. Northwestern then captured wins on the fourth, second and fifth singles courts to clinch the match, leaving Lewis' No. 1 singles match against the 113th-ranked Hand abandoned, along with sophomore Ayshe Can on the third court and freshman Charlotte Gisclon in the No. 6 spot.
Illinois opened the regular-season finale by picking up doubles wins on the second and third courts as well to take a 1-0 lead, while Josie Frazier defeated Pietrowicz in the No. 3 singles match and Megan Heuser beat senior Lauren Lemonds in two sets on the fourth court to put Illinois on the edge of clinching. Gisclon then got a 6-4, 6-0 win over Emily Casati to earn a point for MSU on the No. 6 court, but Kasia Treiber closed out the Fighting Illini win with a three-set victory over senior Nicole Stephens.
Can holds the team lead with 13 singles wins this season, while Gisclon, Lemonds and Pietrowicz all have 12 victories in singles play. The pairing of Lewis and Pietrowicz paces the Spartans with a 14-12 mark in doubles action, posting a 2-1 record against nationally-ranked duos.
Iowa enters the postseason coming off a 4-0 loss at No. 52 Nebraska on Saturday, April 23 that sent the Hawkeyes to 2-9 in the Big Ten. Barbora Pokorna has a team-leading 12-5 mark in singles play this spring and 15-8 record overall, playing in every singles position at the No. 1 spot. Pokorna and Michelle Bacalla also pace the Hawkeyes with a 7-5 mark in duals and have gone 9-7 overall together.
The all-time series between MSU and Iowa sits at 32-17 in favor of the Hawkeyes, and Wednesday's match will mark the 50th meeting between the two programs. Iowa took the regular-season showdown, 4-1, against MSU less than two weeks ago in East Lansing. Lewis picked up the lone Spartan singles victory in that April 14 contest, winning the top court by defeating Marisa Schmidt, 6-4, 6-3.
The Spartans are 2-4 in the Big Ten Tournament since Bruno took over the program prior to the 2016-17 season, advancing to the conference quarterfinals in 2018 and 2021. Last season's Big Ten Tournament saw ninth-seeded MSU open with a 4-1 win over No. 8-seed and host Wisconsin in a second-round match. The Spartans took the doubles point with wins on the first and third courts, while No. 3 singles player Samantha Memije, the No. 1 player Lewis and Stephens in the No. 6 spot all picked singles up wins to negate Lemonds' loss to the Badgers on the No. 2 court. MSU then fell to the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes the following day in the quarterfinals, 4-0, losing the doubles point before suffering defeat on the sixth, fourth and fifth singles courts to end the season.
The winner of Michigan State and Iowa will draw fifth-seeded Illinois on Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m. ET.
#13 Michigan State (9-13, 1-10 B1G) vs. #12 Iowa (6-16, 2-9 B1G)
Date: Wednesday, April 27
Time: 2 p.m. CT (3 p.m. ET)
Location: Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex (Iowa City, Iowa)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Watch: Big Ten Plus
Tournament Central: BigTen.org
EAST LANSING, Mich. – After finishing the regular season on Sunday, the Michigan State women's tennis team will make the trek to Iowa City on Wednesday, April 27 for the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The No. 13-seed Spartans are set to begin play at 3 p.m. ET, taking on tournament host and 12th-seeded Iowa at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex.
Ending with a 1-10 record in conference play, MSU will look to advance to the second round of the B1G Tournament, which the team has reached every year during head coach Kim Bruno's tenure aside from the cancelled 2020 conference championship.
Michigan State is coming off a two-loss weekend at home to close out the regular season, dropping a 4-0 contest to No. 39 Northwestern on Saturday before falling by a 4-1 final to No. 47 Illinois on Sunday to spoil the Spartans' Senior Day.
The match with the Wildcats started with Northwestern winning the doubles point via victories on the second and third courts, as the top court went unfinished with senior Maja Pietrowicz and graduate student Mary Lewis holding a 4-3 lead over Clarissa Hand and Maria Shusharina. Northwestern then captured wins on the fourth, second and fifth singles courts to clinch the match, leaving Lewis' No. 1 singles match against the 113th-ranked Hand abandoned, along with sophomore Ayshe Can on the third court and freshman Charlotte Gisclon in the No. 6 spot.
Illinois opened the regular-season finale by picking up doubles wins on the second and third courts as well to take a 1-0 lead, while Josie Frazier defeated Pietrowicz in the No. 3 singles match and Megan Heuser beat senior Lauren Lemonds in two sets on the fourth court to put Illinois on the edge of clinching. Gisclon then got a 6-4, 6-0 win over Emily Casati to earn a point for MSU on the No. 6 court, but Kasia Treiber closed out the Fighting Illini win with a three-set victory over senior Nicole Stephens.
Can holds the team lead with 13 singles wins this season, while Gisclon, Lemonds and Pietrowicz all have 12 victories in singles play. The pairing of Lewis and Pietrowicz paces the Spartans with a 14-12 mark in doubles action, posting a 2-1 record against nationally-ranked duos.
Iowa enters the postseason coming off a 4-0 loss at No. 52 Nebraska on Saturday, April 23 that sent the Hawkeyes to 2-9 in the Big Ten. Barbora Pokorna has a team-leading 12-5 mark in singles play this spring and 15-8 record overall, playing in every singles position at the No. 1 spot. Pokorna and Michelle Bacalla also pace the Hawkeyes with a 7-5 mark in duals and have gone 9-7 overall together.
The all-time series between MSU and Iowa sits at 32-17 in favor of the Hawkeyes, and Wednesday's match will mark the 50th meeting between the two programs. Iowa took the regular-season showdown, 4-1, against MSU less than two weeks ago in East Lansing. Lewis picked up the lone Spartan singles victory in that April 14 contest, winning the top court by defeating Marisa Schmidt, 6-4, 6-3.
The Spartans are 2-4 in the Big Ten Tournament since Bruno took over the program prior to the 2016-17 season, advancing to the conference quarterfinals in 2018 and 2021. Last season's Big Ten Tournament saw ninth-seeded MSU open with a 4-1 win over No. 8-seed and host Wisconsin in a second-round match. The Spartans took the doubles point with wins on the first and third courts, while No. 3 singles player Samantha Memije, the No. 1 player Lewis and Stephens in the No. 6 spot all picked singles up wins to negate Lemonds' loss to the Badgers on the No. 2 court. MSU then fell to the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes the following day in the quarterfinals, 4-0, losing the doubles point before suffering defeat on the sixth, fourth and fifth singles courts to end the season.
The winner of Michigan State and Iowa will draw fifth-seeded Illinois on Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m. ET.
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