Spartans Begin Postseason Play Versus Rutgers

Sunday, April 16

East Lansing, Mich.

11 AM

Michigan State University

Penn State

Photo by: Kelly Branigan

4/25/2023 12:30:00 PM | Women's Tennis

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State women's tennis returns to the court this week to participate in the Big Ten women's tennis tournament from April 26-30 in West Lafayette, Ind. The Spartans will open the tournament as the No. 12 seed, taking on No. 13 Rutgers at the Schwartz Tennis Center on Wednesday, April 26 at noon.

Live scoring will be available on MSUSpartans.com, while live streaming will be available on Big Ten Plus.

#UNMATCHED APPROACH
MSU heads into the week having finished the regular season with a 9-13 (2-9 Big Ten) mark. Sophomore Liisa Vehvilainen led the Spartans in the regular season with a 9-4 record in singles, coupled with a 10-8 record in doubles. Freshman Juliette Nask is second on the team with eight singles victories, marking the third-straight year that a Spartan freshman has eclipsed that feat.

In doubles, the duo of Vehvilainen and junior Ayshe Can lead the Spartans with a 10-6 record at the No. 1 doubles slot, while the pairing of Issey Purser and Nicole Conard sit second with a 6-4 mark this spring.

LAST POINT
The Spartans finished the regular season facing consecutive ranked opponents in East Lansing, finishing the season strong with a 4-3 win over No. 60 Penn State on Sunday, April 16 after falling to No. 7 Ohio State, 4-1, on April 14.

Against Ohio State, the Spartans drew first blood, taking the doubles point with wins at the No. 3 and No. 1 slots. MSU's pairing of Nask and senior Dagmar Zdrubecka dispatched Ohio State's Shelly Bereznyak and Isabelle Boulas, 6-3, just before the Spartans claimed the doubles point with a 7-5 win at No. 1 doubles as Can and Vehvilainen defeated OSU's Sydni Ratliff and Irina Cantos Siemers. Ohio State would clinch the match, however, with a dominant singles performance to defeat the Spartans 4-1 to begin the weekend.

MSU would follow up the loss two days later with its first ranked win since April 2019, defeating No. 60 Penn State in dramatic fashion, 4-3. Once again, the Spartans would take the first point of the dual as Conard and Purser picked up a 6-0 win at the No. 2 slot just minutes before Zdrubecka and Nask would claim a 7-5 win at No. 3 doubles to put the Spartans up 1-0.

After the teams traded points, the dual came down to a thrilling, three-set tilt at the No. 2 slot. After dropping the first set the Penn State's Yvonne Zuffova, MSU's Vehvilainen rattled off consecutive 6-3 results in the second and third sets to clinch the match for MSU, securing the Spartans' second Big Ten victory and snapping a season-long six-dual losing streak.

ON RUTGERS
Rutgers heads into the weekend having finished the regular season at 9-12 (1-10 Big Ten). The Scarlet Knights are coming off identical 4-0 losses to No. 9 Ohio State and No. 62 Penn State last weekend. Rutgers is lead in singles by Tara Chilton and Jackeline Lopez who both have nine individual wins this spring. In doubles, the pairing of Lopez and Arina Valitova lead the way with an 8-7 mark. The Scarlet Knights took the latest meeting between the two squads with a 4-3 win in Piscataway back in March 2021.

BIG TEN TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
Fans can find additional information, including the official bracket, schedule and travel information for the 2023 Big Ten women's tennis tournament at bigten.org/sports/wten.

FOLLOW THE SPARTANS
Visit MSUSpartans.com for more information on Michigan State women's tennis. Fans can keep up to date with the Spartans women's tennis team on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by following @MSU_WTennis.