Spartans Complete Undefeated Weekend With 4-3 Win at Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Michigan State men’s tennis topped Indiana, 4-3, in a thriller Sunday afternoon in Bloomington to complete an undefeated weekend in the Spartans’ final regular-season road matches of 2023. 

The Spartans moved to 10-11 (3-4 B1G) with the victory, while the Hoosiers dropped to 12-12 (1-6 B1G). 

Sunday marked the first back-to-back victories for the Spartans since a doubleheader win on January 21. MSU has now won three-straight matches for the first time this season. 

MSU earned the doubles point with wins on courts one and three. Freshman Ozan Baris and fifth-year senior Anthony Pero won their third-straight match at No. 1 doubles, knocking off Indiana’s Patrick Fletchall and Ilya Tirasplosky, 6-3. At No. 3 doubles, junior Graydon Lair and sophomore Max Sheldon defeated the Hoosiers’ Luka Vukovic and Ekansh Kumar, 6-2, also earning their third-straight win as a doubles team. 

Baris wrapped up an undefeated weekend at No. 1 singles, defeating IU’s Fletchall, 6-4, 6-1, to give MSU the early 2-0 lead. Playing at No. 5 singles, sophomore Josh Portnoy also completed a 2-0 weekend with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 victory over IU’s Jagger Saylor. 

The Hoosiers fought back with two-straight points, earning wins at No. 4 and No. 6 singles. IU’s Kumar topped freshman David Saye, 6-4, 6-4, on court six, while Tiraspolsky defeated Lair 6-2, 7-6, on court four. 

Indiana evened the match at 3-3 with a win at No. 3 singles, as Vukovic knocked off junior Luke Baylis in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.  

The deciding point came down to Sheldon’s match on court two. After dropping the first set, 6-4, to IU’s Sam Landau, Sheldon battled back for back-to-back 6-4 wins in the final two sets, clinching the match for the Spartans. 

MSU wraps up the regular season at home next weekend, hosting Illinois on Friday, April 21 at 4 p.m. before hosting Northwestern for a noon match on Sunday, April 23. The Spartans’ match against Northwestern will serve as MSU’s Senior Day.