Michigan State University
Iowa
Men's Tennis Stuns No. 57 Iowa, 4-3
4/13/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 13, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. - A revamped Michigan State lineup helped the Spartans pull off a dramatic 4-3 upset over No. 57 Iowa Saturday, April 13. The win, one of the most exciting in recent history, completes MSU's home schedule. The team finished 11-3 in East Lansing this season.
After dropping four consecutive doubles points to Big Ten teams, Michigan State (14-9 overall, 2-6 Big Ten) jumped on top of Iowa (11-7, 3-4) early at No. 1 and No. 3. Sophomore Chris Mitchell (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and freshman Andrew Formanczyk (Rochester Hills, Mich.) broke serve in the first game at No. 3 and never looked back, defeating Petar Mandic and Pete Rose, 8-2. At No. 1, junior co-captains Adam Hourani (Lansing, Mich.) and Jimmy McGuire (Columbus, Ohio) needed only one break on Iowa's serve at 3-3 to pick up momentum. Hourani finished the match with an ace at 40-15 to capture the doubles point, 8-5. The win was also the duo's third in the Big Ten.
"We just went out with a ton of energy today to get us off to a good start," said Hourani, who now holds 16 individual doubles wins this season. "I felt we had control and once we broke, we continued to hold serve and that was it."
Up 1-0, State appeared to be in the driver's seat, winning the opening set in four of six singles matches. But in his first Big Ten match at No. 1, Formanczyk dropped a tough two-setter to No. 95 Stuart Waters, 6-4, 6-3, and freshman Cameron Marshall (Louisville, Ky.) fell at No. 4 to Hunter Skogman, 6-1, 6-3.
The veterans then stepped up for the Spartans. With junior Goran Topalo (Prague, Czech Rep.) sitting out singles due to injury, McGuire moved up to No. 3 and cruised past Mandic, 6-4, 6-1, for his 17th singles victory of the year. Needing to win two of the remaining three matches, Mitchell and sophomores Eric Simonton (Annandale, N.J.) and Mike Hodge (Grand Rapids, Mich.) all reached a third set. After losing a second set tiebreaker at No. 2, Mitchell was serving for the match at 5-4. But Iowa's Jake Wilson won two straight games, forcing Mitchell to serve his way into another tiebreaker. After each player dropped one match point, Mitchell finally put away his opponent on his second and won, 6-1, 6-7(4), 7-6(7).
Simonton also was facing match points after losing a second set tiebreaker at No. 5 against Justin Gaard. Trying to serve out the match, Simonton secured the overall victory on the third match point, winning 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4. Unfortunately, Hodge was unable to come away with the fifth point and fell to Rose at No. 6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. But MSU had already captured its second Big Ten victory.
"(Our doubles teams) took control and had great energy right away," said head coach Gene Orlando. "Without Goran in the lineup, I thought we needed to get a lot of productivity out of our top singles players and Mitchell helped by winning again in the Big Ten."
Michigan State will conclude its regular season schedule when it faces Purdue and Indiana next weekend. Both matches begin at noon local time.
Saturday's Results Against No. 57 IowaDoublesNo. 1 Hourani/McGuire (MSU) def. Gaard/Waters (Iowa) 8-5No. 2 Skogman/Wilson (Iowa) def. Jonckheere/Topalo (MSU) 8-3No. 3 Formanczyk/Mitchell (MSU) def. Mandic/Rose (Iowa) 8-2
SinglesNo. 1 #95 Stuart Waters (Iowa) def. Andrew Formanczyk (MSU) 6-4, 6-3No. 2 Chris Mitchell (MSU) def. Jake Wilson (Iowa) 6-1, 6-7(4), 7-6(7)No. 3 Jimmy McGuire (MSU) def. Petar Mandic (Iowa) 6-4, 6-1No. 4 Hunter Skogman (Iowa) def. Cameron Marshall (MSU) 6-1, 6-3No. 5 Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Justin Gaard (Iowa) 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4No. 6 Pete Rose (Iowa) def. Mike Hodge (MSU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4Michigan State defeats No. 57 Iowa, 4-3.
