Michigan State University
No. 2 TCU
No. 17 MSU Men’s Tennis Falls In Hard-Fought Match With No. 2 TCU At ITA Kickoff Weekend
1/26/2025 7:26:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Spartans split the weekend, 1-1 in first road trip of the season.
FORT WORTH, Texas – In a hard-fought battle, Michigan State men's tennis fell short to No. 2 ranked TCU, falling 4-1, on the final day of ITA Kickoff Weekend on Sunday at TCU'S Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
After sweeping Liberty during the first match of ITA Kickoff Weekend on Saturday, the Spartans looked forward to taking on reigning national champions and No. 2 ranked TCU.
Starting as doubles partners for the Spartans was junior Ozan Baris/redshirt-sophomore Aristotelis Thanos, senior Max Sheldon/freshman Matthew Forbes and sophomore Taym Alazmeh/freshman Danial Rakhmatullayev.
Sheldon/Forbes took the court first for the team but ended the match in a 6-2 loss to Jack Pinnington/Cooper Woestendick from TCU.
Alazmeh/Rakhmatullayev were the first pair to help earn a double point for MSU. The pair took down Albert Pedrico Kravtsov/Duncan Chan from TCU, 7-6 (7-4).
With a tie going for the doubles point, it was up to Baris/Thanos to help their team earn the point. The Spartan duo took the court against Pedro Vives/Liu Maxted from TCU but fell in a tough back-and-forth match, 6-7 (4-7).
Losing the doubles, the Spartans knew they needed to dig deep to get ahead to the home-standing TCU.
Sheldon took on Lui Maxted of the Horned Frogs and fought hard but could not pull out the win, losing 2-6, 6-7 (3-7).
On the next court over, Baris went up against Jack Pinnington of TCU. The duo fought back and forth but Pinnington took the match, 6-4, 7-5.
Freshman Vuk Radjenovic and Alazmeh were set to take the court once Sheldon and Baris' matches were done.
With the points in favor of TCU, Forbes fought hard against Duncan Chan taking his match to the full three sets and earning the Spartans their only team point.
A close match between Thanos and Pedro Vives was heading into a tiebreak set to hopefully turn the odds in favor of the Spartans. Thanos fell to Vives in the third set 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, finishing up the match for the Spartans.
With the points in favor of the Frogs, the remaining matches went unfinished.
TCU improved to 5-0 with the win, while MSU was dealt its first defeat of the season and is now 4-1.
Up Next:
The team will head to Tennessee on Friday, January 31 for another road trip before they head to Clemson on Sunday, February 2.
Results:
No. 2 TCU (5-0) 4, No. 17 Michigan State (4-1) 1
Fort Worth, Texas
Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center
Doubles:
1. No. 2 Pedro Vives/Lui Maxted (TCU) def. No. 97 Ozan Baris/Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) 7-6 (7-4)
2. Jack Pinnington/Cooper Woestendick (TCU) def. No. 107 Max Sheldon/Matthew Forbes (MSU) 6-2
3. Taym Alazmeh/Danial Rakhmatullayev (MSU) def. Albert Pedrico Kravtsov/Duncan Chan (TCU) 7-6 (7-4)
Singles:
1. Jack Pinnington (TCU) def. No. 8 Ozan Baris (MSU) 6-4, 7-5
2. No. 9 Pedro Vives (TCU) def. No. 27 Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
3. Lui Maxted (TCU) def. No. 83 Max Sheldon (MSU) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
4. No. 40 Matthew Forbes (MSU) def. No. 74 Duncan Chan (TCU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
5. Vuk Radjenovic (MSU) vs Cooper Woestendick (TCU) 5-4 UNF
6. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) vs Albert Pedrico Kravtsov (TCU) 3-4 UNF
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,1,4,2)
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,1
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,4,2
Players Mentioned
