Michigan State University
No. 49 Washington
47th-Ranked MSU Men’s Tennis Finds Success Against No. 49 Washington
3/7/2025 10:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis
MSU men’s tennis wins first Big Ten win in return to home court after month away from home.
EAST LANSING, Mich. – After a long road trip filled February, Michigan State men's tennis opened up Big Ten Conference play with a big win against No. 49 ranked Washington Friday night, pulling away for a 5-2 Victory for MSU.
Friday was the Spartans' first home match since Jan. 19, and the win snapped a five-match losing skid since MSU's last win on Jan. 25. The Green & White's win moved the Spartans to 5-5 overall and 1-0 in Big Ten action. Washington suffered its third-straight defeat and is now 8-3 overall and 0-1 in B1G play.
"It was awesome to get back into the win column and to have our top singles player (Ozan Baris) back in the line-up and playing closer to a full-strength line-up. We're still missing one or two guys, but that gives everyone a lot of confidence. Washington is a great team, and it very well could have been a 4-3 match," said head coach Harry Jadun. "It came down to Max Sheldon's court, and we really relied on our upperclassmen today. Ozan Baris, Max Sheldon, Aristotelis Thanos took care of business in singles, and that gave us the win, and that experience and maturity is huge for this program. Some of those younger guys have to continue to step up and grow as we go through the season and get into the thick of things in the Big Ten portion of the schedule."
Two familiar pairings hit the court in doubles for the Spartans with junior Ozan Baris and redshirt sophomore Aristotelis Thanos in the No. 1 spot. The brother duo of senior Max Sheldon and freshman Mitchell Sheldon found themselves in the second spot for the Spartans, with a new pairing of sophomore Taym Alazmeh and freshman Vuk Radjenovic rounding out the final doubles pairings for the Spartans.
Alazmeh/Radjenovic started their match out slowly after being down, 1-3. The duo stopped the pairing of Bouchelaghem/Zharyn (UW) from scoring any more points when the Spartans came back to win, 6-3.
The Sheldon brothers duo took on Suko/Purohit from Washington. A quick back-and-forth match between this pairing showed a bad start for Max and Mitchell. The duo found themselves working even harder to dig themselves out of the 1-4 hole. A push from the crowd brought the fight for these two, coming back to win, 6-4.
With the doubles point in favor of the Spartans, the remaining doubles match went unfinished.
The momentum from the doubles matches motivated the Spartans as they took the courts for their singles matches.
At the No. 5 spot, Alazmeh took on Ivan Sodan from Washington. In a quick match, Sodan defeated Alazmeh, giving the Huskies their first point, tying up the score at 1-1.
Putting the first singles point on the board for the Spartans was junior Ozan Baris. Baris took on Cesar Bouchelaghem (UW), where the duo fought back and forth but Baris won 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
Evening up the score for the Huskies was Rohan Belday (UW), where he defeated Mi. Sheldon (MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).
With the score tied up 2-2, the Spartans knew that they needed to kick up their speed to finish out this match with a win.
Fighting hard at No. 2 doubles, Thanos used the energy from the crowd and fellow Spartans to pull out a win against Dzianis Zharyn from Washington 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.
Using the momentum from his win with his brother, Ma. Sheldon entered a back and forth match with Soham Purohit from Washington. The duo fought hard but Ma. Sheldon pulled ahead and won, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
With the Spartans clinching the win, the remaining match between Radjenovic and Suko would be played to completion.
Radjenovic continued his match against Nadim Suko (UW). Radjenovic fought hard to earn his own individual win, adding another to his doubles win with his partner, Alazmeh, Radjenovic earned his win in three sets, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.
Up Next:
The Spartans are back home on Sunday, March 7 against another Big Ten newcomer opponent in Oregon at 10 a.m. Oregon is coming off a loss against No. 18 ranked Michigan, 4-0, Friday night.
Please note: ALL future Spartan men's tennis home matches will be held inside at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
Results
No. 47 Michigan State (5-5, 1-0 B1G) 5, No. 49 Washington (8-3, 0-1 B1G) 2
Washington vs Michigan State
March 7, 2025 at East Lansing, MI
(MSU Indoor Tennis Center)
Doubles
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Baris/Thanos (MSU) vs Bouchelaghem/Zharyn (UW), 3-4 unf.
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Ma. Sheldon/Mi. Sheldon (MSU) def. Suko/Purohit (UW), 6-3
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Alazmeh/Radjenovic (MSU) def. Belday/Pearson (UW), 6-4
Singles
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No. 4 Ozan Baris (MSU) def. No. 68 Cesar Bouchelaghem (UW) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
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No. 21 Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) vs No. 98 Dzianis Zharyn (UW) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2
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No. 78 Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Soham Purohit (UW) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
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Vuk Radjenovic (MSU) def. Nadim Suko (UW) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4
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Ivan Sodan (UW) def. Taym Alazmeh (MSU), 6-1, 6-1
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Rohan Belday (UW) def. Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2); Singles (5, 1, 6, 2, 3, 4)
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
5,1,6,2,3,4
Players Mentioned
