LINCOLN, Neb. – Michigan State men’s tennis picked up a pair of wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, but was unable to top No. 45 Nebraska, falling 5-2 at the Dillon Tennis Center in Lincoln Saturday night in the Spartans’ conference opener.
MSU drops to 6-8 (0-1 B1G) with the loss, while Nebraska moves to 9-5 (1-0 B1G).
After MSU’s No. 2 doubles team of junior Luke Baylis and sophomore Josh Portnoy fell 6-3 to the Cornhuskers’ Nic Wiedenhorn and Leo Linquet, freshman Ozan Baris and fifth-year senior Anthony Pero wrapped up a dominant 6-1 victory over Nebraska’s William Gleason and Calvin Mueller on court one to keep the doubles point hopes alive for the Spartans. Nebraska secured the doubles point after a back-and-forth battle on court three, as Roni Hietaranta and Shunya Maruyama defeated sophomore Max Sheldon and freshman David Saye, 7-5.
The teams continued to play out the final matches after Nebraska won four-straight singles points to clinch the win. Baris earned his fifth win at No. 1 singles this season with a hard-fought 7-6(9), 6-0 win over Hietaranta. Sheldon picked up MSU’s second point of the match with a three-set comeback victory over Linquet on court two. Sheldon won his first set 6-4 before falling 1-6 in the second. He fought back in the third set, 7-6(10), to secure his eighth singles win of the season.
At No. 3 singles, Maruyama defeated Baylis, 6-4, 6-1, while Pero fell to Gleason, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 4, junior Graydon Lair fell to Mueller, 7-6(4), 6-1, at No. 5 and Wiedenhorn defeated Saye 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6.
MSU continues conference play on the road at No. 52 Wisconsin on Sunday, March 26 at 1 p.m. ET/noon CT.
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