EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State men’s tennis is in Tempe, Arizona this week for a spring break tournament hosted by Arizona State. Competition begins this Friday, March 11 at the Kiwanis Tennis Center in Mesa.
“We’re excited to be in Arizona for our spring break,” head coach Gene Orlando said. “This is a great opportunity to transition from indoor to outdoor tennis and to play against a strong field of teams. We’ve had three quality days of practice here already and the weather has been awesome. We are ready to compete this weekend in the invite.”
In addition to host Arizona State and the Spartans, Penn State, Idaho, Texas Tech, Wichita State, Tulane and Princeton will also be in attendance.
The tournament runs through Sunday, March 13, with each team guaranteed play in three matches. Competition will start each day at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. MST.
Michigan State will begin the tournament with a match against Princeton on Friday at 10 a.m. Winners will move on to the semifinals and eventual championship, while second-place teams will enter a consolation championship bracket.
There will be no live scoring but matches are available to live stream here, with full results being updated each day on msuspartans.com.
LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State won a pair of matches this weekend in East Lansing, picking up a 4-3 victory over Marquette followed up by a 6-1 win against Butler for the doubleheader sweep.
The Spartans opened the day by taking the doubles point against the Golden Eagles when they earned victories on the No. 1 and 2 courts. Kazuki Matsuno and Jarreau Campbell won on the top court with a 6-4 victory over Fran San Andres and Rami Scheetz. Shortly after, Josh Mukherjee and Graydon Lair won in an extra-point battle against Will Tennison and Shaddy Khalafallah, 7-5.
Michigan State increased its lead to 4-1 with wins from Josh Portnoy and Anthony Pero. Portnoy won in straight sets against Marquette’s Jan Jauch, 6-4, 6-3, to earn his first win on the fourth court and improve to 11-8 overall in singles action. Anthony Pero played out three sets to win against Scheetz. The final two matches were lengthy tiebreaker battles, ending in a victory by Reed Crocker on court five, followed by the final point of the match going to Mukherjee at No. 1.
In the nightcap against Butler, the Spartans again claimed the doubles point. Carson Gates and Max Sheldon made quick work against Michael Dickson and Drew Michael with a 6-0 victory on the second court, while Williams and Jack Winkler won 6-2 over Thomas Brennan and Alvaro Huete Vadillo at No. 1.
Sheldon completed a 6-1, 6-1 takedown of Michael Karr on the fourth court. Matsuno extended MSU’s lead to 3-0 with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles over Michael. Luke Baylis clinched the dual for the Spartans against the Bulldogs with a win over Borja Miralles, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3. At No. 1, Jack Winkler picked up another win when he defeated Thomas Brennan, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.