Unprecedented: Looking Back at MSU Men's Tennis' Historic Season
7/26/2024 1:59:00 PM | Men's Tennis
In the second season under Harry Jadun, Michigan State Men’s Tennis and it’s 11 student athletes went many places no one in the program had ever been before.
At the culmination of the winningest season in team history, MSU’s 23rd win of the year was the first NCAA Tournament win in program history. That wasn’t the last win of the season for one Spartan, however.
Jadun’s first recruit and Michigan State’s first Big Ten Men’s Tennis Player of the Year, Ozan Baris, also became the first to battle to the NCAA Singles Championships semifinal. In June, the sophomore from Okemos, Mich. – campus’ eastern neighbor where the waters of the Red Cedar River flow through first – became the program’s first to win the MSU Athletics George Alderton Male Athlete of the Year award.
While those may be highlights of the unprecedented season, it doesn’t tell the whole story. There were numerous other program firsts leading up to the postseason that put Jadun, Baris and the Spartans in that position.
While dual matches are played in the spring, the season began for the Spartans in September with singles and doubles tournaments. They found instant success, peaking with the first National Title in program history.
The unprecedented Fall also included:
- Most total ranked wins in a fall season (20) and most over top-25 opponents (7)
- Most ranked singles wins in a fall season in program history (15 between four players)
- First time three different pairings won three significant doubles titles in one fall (Gamecock Ranked, Sept. 17 – Ronald Hohmann III/Baris; Milwaukee Tennis Classic, Sept. 24 – Max Sheldon/Sebastien Collard; ITA Fall National Championships, Nov. 5 – Sheldon/Baris
- First time having multiple entrants in the ITA Fall National Championships (Baris/Sheldon – doubles, Baris – singles)
- First time having a singles entrant in the ITA Fall National Championships (Baris)
With the Fall concluding with a national championship trophy added to a display in the MSU Tennis Center, the Spartans merited historic classification and nation-leading ITA preseason rankings. Individual successes as the dual season began in January saw those rankings blossom further:
- First time leading the nation in total ITA-ranked players (Nov. 15)
- First time with more than one player ranked in ITA singles/doubles rankings (had four in singles and four in doubles in Nov. 15 preseason rankings)
- First time having an ITA top-15 ranked player (had two at once in Nov. 15 preseason rankings, Baris reaching as high as No. 4, Hohmann III as high as No. 11)
- First time having the nation’s top-ranked doubles pairing (Sheldon & Baris: Feb. 7)
- First time having a player that is the highest ranked in the Big Ten in both singles and doubles (Baris No. 4 in singles, No. 1 in doubles with Sheldon) – also highest-ranking singles player and doubles team in program history
As a team, the Spartans came together, and they went out of the gates hot. Hotter than any Spartan team had started in a long time. The non-conference slate featured:
- The most consecutive wins to start a season in 64 years with 12
- The most consecutive matches won by multiple points (11 to start the season)
- First time with multiple top-25 road wins
After never having been ranked inside the ITA’s top-40 teams, the preseason poll top-25 Spartans had reached a high of No. 15 nationally on Feb. 27. And when Big Ten play commenced in March, the winning ways continued:
- Best start to a conference season in 56 years (6-0)
- Most Big Ten regular season wins in 56 years (7)
- First time with multiple 7-0 sweeps in Big Ten play since the ITA switched to the best-of-seven format in 1993, first time with multiple B1G full sweeps since 1967
- First time having multiple different Big Ten Player of the Week winners in the same season (Feb. 28 - Ronald Hohmann III; April 3 - Ozan Baris)
On a brisk day at the MSU Outdoor Tennis Center on April 6, Michigan State topped Purdue, marking the record-breaking 19th win of 2024 and therefore the winningest season in program history. But they didn’t stop there.
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
— Michigan State Men’s Tennis (@MSU_MTennis) April 6, 2024
Winningest season in program history but not done yet. #GoGreen | #V4MSU pic.twitter.com/NvYWSbr0tY
When the postseason arrived, Sparty collected win No. 23 with a sweep of undefeated Denver in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and Baris stormed to the NCAA Singles Championships semifinal.
Then the awards and honors rolled in.
- First time with the Big Ten’s Player of the Year (Baris)
- First time having the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in back-to-back seasons (Baris in ’23, Aristotelis Thanos in ’24)
- Most consecutive weeks ranked in the top-25 as a team (16 through the entire season)
- First time having three players on All-Big Ten teams (Baris and Thanos on first team, Hohmann III on second team)
- First time having three players selected to the NCAA Championships for singles and doubles (Baris singles and doubles, Hohmann III singles, Sheldon doubles)
- First time a player has been selected to both the NCAA Championships for singles and doubles in consecutive years (sophomore Ozan Baris)
- Best regional team ranking in program history (ITA No. 2 in the Midwest)
- First time with the top-ranked singles player in the region (Baris – ITA Midwest region No. 1)
- First time having a player selected to the ATP Next Gen Accelerator Program as well as the USTA Collegiate Summer Team (Baris)
So as Jadun approaches year three and reloads his lineup for the 2024 fall season and 2025 dual season, the question arises: how many program firsts and records will be shattered this time?
