Friday, April 26
Evanston, Ill.
5 PM
Michigan State University
4
vs
1
Indiana
19th-Ranked Spartans Win 4-1, Advance to Face Michigan in B1G Tournament Semifinal
4/27/2024 12:19:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EVANSTON, Ill. – National No. 19 Michigan State completed a 4-1 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal win over No. 68 Indiana, advancing to the conference semifinals to face intrastate foe No. 29 Michigan Saturday.
"What a match for the Spartans today," head coach Harry Jadun said. "Indiana competed really well and with Ronnie and Ozan unavailable due to injury we had to have two guys step up and battle, and that's what we got. I'm really happy with how the guys handled adversity late tonight and now we get a rematch of last week's battle and excited to go against the Wolverines tomorrow."
The third-seeded Spartans will face No. 2 seed Michigan Saturday at 3 p.m. ET for a shot at the conference title match. MSU has not beaten Michigan in 19 years and 364 days – 22 meetings ago, including being upset on the road 5-2 one week ago. The match will be streamed on B1G+.
The Spartans have now won each of their last four first round matches but have not made it out of the second round since the tournament switched to the single-elimination format in 1999. In a season of program firsts, Michigan State will seek its first Big Ten Tournament title and second ever conference championship, first since 1967.
Match Recap
Michigan State got on the board first with a doubles victory on main court by way of the First Team All-Big Ten and 2023 and 2024 conference freshmen of the year pairing of sophomore Ozan Baris and redshirt-freshman Aristotelis Thanos. The Hoosiers would bounce back however, winning at No. 2 doubles.
The third and final doubles match was a battle and came down to a super tiebreaker. The duo of junior Max Sheldon and senior Graydon Lair persisted, winning 7-6 [7-1] to clinch the Spartans the doubles point.
Thanos kept the momentum going in singles, quickly doubling the Spartans lead with a straight-set 6-4, 6-1 victory in just his second career match at the top singles spot, extending his season record to 13-2.
After Indiana took a point back, Sheldon rebounded after dropping his first set to put MSU back up 3-1 with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win on court three, his team-best 15th win of the season.
It was sophomore David Saye who clinched the victory for MSU and advancement to the next round with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win in the fourth slot.
Scouting No. 29 Michigan
The Wolverines are 15-11 on the season after having beaten seventh-seeded Northwestern 4-0 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Maize and Blue are represented in the ITA rankings by Gavin Young, who is the nation's No. 19 singles player with a record of 11-7 and pairs with fellow senior Jacob Bickerseth to make the No. 17 doubles team with a season record of 12-6.
Series History vs. Michigan
Michigan holds the series lead over State, 107-21. The Wolverines have won each of the last 22 meetings with the Spartans last coming out on top on April 29, 2004 in the Big Ten tournament in East Lansing.
The Wolverines upset the Spartans in the last match of the regular season, 5-2 on April 20 in Ann Arbor, which clinched Michigan the two seed for the Big Ten tournament and MSU the three. The Spartans two points came by way of a Baris top-25 win over Young on main court and a straight-set Thanos victory in the second slot.
Results
No. 3 Michigan State 4, No. 6 Indiana 1
Singles
1. Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) def. #100 Sam Landau (IND) 6-4, 6-1
2. Facundo Yunis (IND) def. Sebastien Collard (MSU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
3. Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Michael Andre (IND) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
4. David Saye (MSU) def. Jagger Saylor (IND) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
5. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) vs. Ilya Tiraspolsky (IND) 7-5, 3-6, 4-4, unfinished
6. #124 Graydon Lair (MSU) vs. Deacon Thomas (IND) 4-6, 6-0, 5-6, unfinished
Doubles
1. Aristotelis Thanos/Ozan Baris (MSU) def. Jagger Saylor/Ilya Tiraspolsky (IND) 6-3
2. Graydon Lair/Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Sam Landau/Carson Haskins (IND) 7-6 (7-1)
3. Luc Boulier/Facundo Yunis (IND) def. Sebastien Collard/Taym Alazmeh (MSU) 7-5
Match Notes:
Indiana 16-11; National ranking #68
Michigan State 22-5; National ranking #19
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,2,3,4)
"What a match for the Spartans today," head coach Harry Jadun said. "Indiana competed really well and with Ronnie and Ozan unavailable due to injury we had to have two guys step up and battle, and that's what we got. I'm really happy with how the guys handled adversity late tonight and now we get a rematch of last week's battle and excited to go against the Wolverines tomorrow."
The third-seeded Spartans will face No. 2 seed Michigan Saturday at 3 p.m. ET for a shot at the conference title match. MSU has not beaten Michigan in 19 years and 364 days – 22 meetings ago, including being upset on the road 5-2 one week ago. The match will be streamed on B1G+.
The Spartans have now won each of their last four first round matches but have not made it out of the second round since the tournament switched to the single-elimination format in 1999. In a season of program firsts, Michigan State will seek its first Big Ten Tournament title and second ever conference championship, first since 1967.
Match Recap
Michigan State got on the board first with a doubles victory on main court by way of the First Team All-Big Ten and 2023 and 2024 conference freshmen of the year pairing of sophomore Ozan Baris and redshirt-freshman Aristotelis Thanos. The Hoosiers would bounce back however, winning at No. 2 doubles.
The third and final doubles match was a battle and came down to a super tiebreaker. The duo of junior Max Sheldon and senior Graydon Lair persisted, winning 7-6 [7-1] to clinch the Spartans the doubles point.
Thanos kept the momentum going in singles, quickly doubling the Spartans lead with a straight-set 6-4, 6-1 victory in just his second career match at the top singles spot, extending his season record to 13-2.
After Indiana took a point back, Sheldon rebounded after dropping his first set to put MSU back up 3-1 with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win on court three, his team-best 15th win of the season.
It was sophomore David Saye who clinched the victory for MSU and advancement to the next round with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win in the fourth slot.
Scouting No. 29 Michigan
The Wolverines are 15-11 on the season after having beaten seventh-seeded Northwestern 4-0 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Maize and Blue are represented in the ITA rankings by Gavin Young, who is the nation's No. 19 singles player with a record of 11-7 and pairs with fellow senior Jacob Bickerseth to make the No. 17 doubles team with a season record of 12-6.
Series History vs. Michigan
Michigan holds the series lead over State, 107-21. The Wolverines have won each of the last 22 meetings with the Spartans last coming out on top on April 29, 2004 in the Big Ten tournament in East Lansing.
The Wolverines upset the Spartans in the last match of the regular season, 5-2 on April 20 in Ann Arbor, which clinched Michigan the two seed for the Big Ten tournament and MSU the three. The Spartans two points came by way of a Baris top-25 win over Young on main court and a straight-set Thanos victory in the second slot.
Results
No. 3 Michigan State 4, No. 6 Indiana 1
Singles
1. Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) def. #100 Sam Landau (IND) 6-4, 6-1
2. Facundo Yunis (IND) def. Sebastien Collard (MSU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
3. Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Michael Andre (IND) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
4. David Saye (MSU) def. Jagger Saylor (IND) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
5. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) vs. Ilya Tiraspolsky (IND) 7-5, 3-6, 4-4, unfinished
6. #124 Graydon Lair (MSU) vs. Deacon Thomas (IND) 4-6, 6-0, 5-6, unfinished
Doubles
1. Aristotelis Thanos/Ozan Baris (MSU) def. Jagger Saylor/Ilya Tiraspolsky (IND) 6-3
2. Graydon Lair/Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Sam Landau/Carson Haskins (IND) 7-6 (7-1)
3. Luc Boulier/Facundo Yunis (IND) def. Sebastien Collard/Taym Alazmeh (MSU) 7-5
Match Notes:
Indiana 16-11; National ranking #68
Michigan State 22-5; National ranking #19
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,2,3,4)
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3,2
#1 Singles Match
12
Sam Landau / 0 (100/-) [IND]
41
66
#2 Singles Match
123
Facundo Yunis / 0 [IND]
646
262
#3 Singles Match
123
Michael Andre / 0 [IND]
632
366
#4 Singles Match
123
Jagger Saylor / 0 [IND]
272
656
#5 Singles Match
1234
Ilya Tiraspolsky / 0 [IND]
5640
734UF
#6 Singles Match
1234
Deacon Thomas / 0 [IND]
6060
465UF
Order of Finish:
1,2,3,4
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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