EAST LANSING, Mich. – On Wednesday, MSU Men’s Tennis received several program-best classifications in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s updated rankings, led by junior Max Sheldon and sophomore Ozan Baris’ jump to No. 1 doubles team in the nation.
In the team poll, the undefeated Spartans jumped to No. 16, the fifth straight week the team has improved to a program-high mark since cracking the top 25 in the coaches poll for the first time during the preseason. In the second season under head coach Harry Jadun, the Spartans are 8-0 to start the year for the first time since 2011’s 9-0 start.
Sheldon and Baris’ status as the chief pairing in the country is the first time any Spartan tennis student-athletes have topped the rankings list. In the previous rankings prior to the start of the Spring season, Baris and Sheldon were slotted No. 2 in the nation after winning the ITA Fall National Championships in November.
In singles, Baris remained the program’s highest seeded individual at No. 6, while graduate student Ronald Hohmann III was bumped up a spot to a career-best No. 11 in the nation. MSU is one of two teams with multiple top-11 ranked players. Baris is 4-0 on the season while both he and Hohmann already own multiple ranked wins to their names this spring.
Also improving to a career-best rating was senior Graydon Lair at No. 112, 3-0 in singles play on the young season, up from his debut rating of 116. Despite being 6-0 in singles this season, Sheldon dropped from his pervious spot at 59 to 97 due to discrepancies in the algorithm the ITA uses to rank the nations players on a point scale.
The doubles pairing of Hohmann and fellow grad transfer Sebastien Collard, 2-1 on the season and 1-0 against ranked duos, were seeded as the ITA’s No. 57 doubles team. The previously ranked No. 29 pairing of Sheldon and Collard and No. 41 duo of Baris and Hohmann were knocked out of the rankings without having logged a match together since the fall.
The Spartans next take to the court against Clemson at home on Friday, Feb. 7 at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center as they hope to achieve a 9-0 start to the season, a feat the program has accomplished once in the last 63 years.
Spartans in the ITA Rankings Update
Singles
Doubles
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