SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Michigan State men’s tennis erased an early deficit with three singles wins, but was unable to hold off No. 37 Notre Dame, falling 4-3 Monday afternoon in South Bend at the Eck Tennis Pavillion.
Notre Dame moved to 8-4 (0-0 ACC) with the win, while the Spartans dropped to 4-5 on the season.
The Spartans 29th-ranked doubles pairing of freshman Ozan Baris and sophomore Max Sheldon moved to 4-1 overall and 3-0 against nationally-ranked opponents this season, posting a 6-4 win over Notre Dame’s 47th-ranked Sebastian Dominko and Connor Fu. Notre Dame responded with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, as the Fighting Irish’s Jean-Marc Malkowski and Matt Che topped juniors Graydon Lair and Luke Baylis, 6-3 at No. 2, and fifth year Anthony Pero and junior Reed Crocker fell to Notre Dame’s Evan Lee and Yu Zhang, 6-4.
The Spartans stormed back in singles with two quick wins on courts one and two, with Baris recording a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win over Dominko at No. 1. Sheldon followed with a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 2 against Malkowski.
Notre Dame responded with a win on court four, a 6-4, 6-2 defeat for Baylis to Fu, to tie the match 2-2. MSU then retook the lead with a comeback victory for Lair at No. 5. Lair, dropping his second set 4-6 after winning the first 6-3, topped Notre Dame’s Aditya Vashistha in three sets with a 6-3 win in the third.
Both Pero (court three) and freshman David Saye (court six) played three-set matches, but were unable to secure the win for MSU. Pero fell 6-7, 6-2, 5-7 to Matthew Che, and Saye dropped a 6-4, 5-7, 3-6…
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