Spartans Fall to Badgers on the Road

MADISON, Wis. – Michigan State men’s tennis fell to No. 52 Wisconsin, 5-2, Sunday afternoon in Madison in its second-straight Big Ten road match. 

MSU drops to 6-9 (0-2 B1G), while the Badgers move to 8-6 (1-1 B1G). 

Wisconsin secured the doubles point to kick off the match with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Playing in their second-straight match on court one, freshman Ozan Baris and fifth-year senior Anthony Pero topped 41st-ranked Gabriel Huber and Michael Minasyan of Wisconsin, 6-3. At No. 2, junior Luke Baylis and sophomore Josh Portnoy fell 6-4 to the Badgers’ Robin Parts and Sebastian Vile, while sophomore Max Sheldon and freshman David Saye dropped their match 6-1 to the Badgers’ Jared Pratt and Mihailo Popovic at No. 3 doubles. 

The Badgers won four-straight singles matches to clinch the match, but the Spartans picked up a point from Baris on court one with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Pratt for his third-straight singles win. Portnoy earned the second point for the Spartans on court six after a back-and-forth battle with Parts, winning 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(9). 

The Spartans kept the matches close on the remaining courts but were unable to match the Badgers on their home court. Sheldon fell to Popovic at No. 2, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3, Baylis dropped his match at No. 3 to Vile, 6-2, 6-4, Pero fell at No. 5 to Huber, 6-1, 7-5, and junior Graydon Lair fell to Minasyan, 6-4, 6-4 on court five. 

MSU returns to action on Thursday, March 30 at 4…