CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Highlighted by freshman David Saye’s appearance in the singles quarterfinals, Michigan State men’s tennis wrapped up competition at the ITA Midwest Regional Monday at the Illinois Atkins Tennis Center.
Four Spartans competed throughout the four-day tournament. Saye knocked off a ranked opponent en route to the quarterfinals, while Ozan Baris, Luke Baylis and Max Sheldon also picked up wins in doubles and singles play.
Baylis opened play for the Spartans in the qualification draw on Thursday, Oct. 20, falling in a three-set match, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(2) to Notre Dame’s Matthew Halpin. Baylis returned to action on Friday alongside Saye in the doubles round of 64, topping Illinois State’s Nam Pham and Emilio Gonzalez, 8-3.
Baylis and Saye’s win advanced the pair to the doubles round of 32 alongside Spartan doubles pairing Baris and Sheldon, who received a bye into the second round. Baylis and Saye fell in a close match, 8-6, to Illinois’ Hunter Heck and Lucas Horve. Horve and Heck entered the tournament as the top seed and No. 39-ranked doubles pairing in the NCAA. Baris and Sheldon fell to Cheng En Tsai and Mikael Vollbach of Northern Illinois, 8-7(3).
Saye, Baris and Sheldon posted strong results for Michigan State on Saturday in the singles main draw. In the round of 64, Baris, the No. 9 seed, defeated DePaul’s Leon Huck, 6-1, 6-2, while Saye topped Western Michigan’s Anton Arzhankin, 6-3, 6-3. Sheldon fell to Cleveland State’s Maxime Mareschal-Hay, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, before defeating Brogan Pierce of Western Michigan, 6-4, 6-0 in the consolation round.
Baris and Saye both won their following matches in Saturday’s round of 32, with Baris defeating Cleveland State’s Mikael Erler, 6-0, 6-3, and Saye defeating No. 99 and 7-seed Aditya Vashistha of Notre Dame, 7-6(7), 6-4.
Baris concluded play in Sunday’s Round of 16, falling to top seed and No. 8-ranked JJ Tracy of Ohio State in three sets, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3). Saye knocked off Northwestern’s Gleb Blekher, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, before falling to three-seed and No. 42-ranked Andre Fenty of Michigan, 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
The Spartans return to action on Friday, Oct. 28 for the Notre Dame Invitational. The three-day tournament will take place at Notre Dame’s Courtney Tennis Center.
Results
Thursday, Oct. 20
Qualifying Singles
Matthew…
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