CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 25-ranked Illinois men’s tennis will close out its regular season with two matches in Michigan — the first against Michigan State on Friday at 5 p.m. CT and the second against No. 7-ranked Michigan on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT.
The Illini (17-9, 5-2 B1G) are coming off a successful weekend, defeating Wisconsin (4-0) and Nebraska (4-2) to close out their home slate.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION – Michigan State (10-11, 3-4 B1G)
Harry Jadun is in his first as head coach at Michigan State. He succeeds Gene Orlando, who was at the helm of the Spartans’ program for 31 years.
A former All-American for the Spartans, Jadun completed his fifth season as an assistant coach at MSU in 2021-22. He briefly served as an assistant coach at Illinois last summer before returning to Michigan State as head coach.
The Spartan’s standout freshman Ozan Baris received co-Big Ten Tennis Athlete of the Week honors for going 4-0 last week against Purdue and Indiana. He and doubles partner Anthony Pero also clinched the doubles point in both road matches. Baris is also ranked No. 41 in singles and sixth in doubles (with Max Sheldon) in the ITA rankings.
Freshman David Saye has won three of his last six matches, most notably against Michigan’s Patorn Hanchaikul, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION – Michigan (20-3, 6-1 B1G)
Head coach Adam Steinberg is coming off of a historic season with the Wolverines in 2022, winning ITA Midwest Coach of the Year honors, as the squad finished with a 25-4 record, the third most wins in program history. The Wolverines also won the 2022 Big Ten Tournament Championship, the program’s first since 1996.
This season, the No.8-ranked Wolverines are 20-3 overall, and tied for second in the Big Ten standings with a 6-1 mark in conference play.
Michigan features two players in the top 25 singles rankings — Ondrej Styler, ranked No. 7, and Andrew Fenty, ranked No. 11.
Fenty, in his fifth year, has accumulated many honors during his time with Michigan, becoming the first athlete in program history to record more than 100 wins in both singles and doubles play to make his mark as the winningest Michigan player in program history. Fenty is currently 33-4 in singles with a 16-3 dual mark on the season.
Fenty and doubles partner Gavin Young are currently ranked No. 8 in the country…
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