Michigan State University
Wright State
Men's Tennis Sweeps Season Opening Doubleheader
1/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 18, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Jan. 18, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's tennis spring season got underway exactly how last year's ended: dramatically. The Spartans, who fell way behind to open the match, escaped Butler with a 4-3 win and cruised past Wright State, 7-0, Saturday (Jan. 18) in a home doubleheader.
MSU (2-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten) began the match with Butler (0-1 overall, 0-0 Horizon League) down two men due to injuries. Senior Jimmy McGuire (Columbus, Ohio) has been suffering with tendonitis in his right hand for close to a week and senior Goran Topalo (Prague, Czech Republic) has a pulled muscle in his left hip.
But the doubles combination of junior Eric Simonton (Annandale, N.J.) and sophomore Cameron Marshall (Louisville, Ky.) were able to wear down Butler's Aubrey Annan and Peter Voelz in the first game at No. 2. As the other two matches went into their fourth game, State forced deuce numerous times on Voelz's serve. Although the Bulldogs won the game, the Spartans used their remaining energy to break Annan's serve at 3-3 and never looked back, taking the match, 8-3.
The Bulldogs, however, took the doubles point by winning at No. 1 and No. 3. Butler's Brandon Gill and Kevin Gill, ranked No. 36 in the nation, only needed one break of serve, which came at 5-4, to defeat junior Chris Mitchell (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and sophomore Andrew Formanczyk (Rochester Hills, Mich.) at No. 1, 8-5. Scott Newmark and Mike Weaver also broke MSU's serve at 5-4 to take the match over senior Adam Hourani (Lansing, Mich.) and sophomore Josh Efros (West Bloomfield, Mich.) at No. 3, 8-4.
Down 1-0 overall to an opponent who qualified for the NCAA tournament one year ago, may have contributed to Michigan State's performance during the opening sets in singles. Four MSU players fell behind 4-2 in their respective first sets and the Bulldogs seemed to take control of the momentum throughout the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. But Hourani's impressive play at No. 5 against Newmark shifted it towards the Green and White. With Newmark serving at 5-4 in the first, Hourani began to rack up the winners and took three straight games and eventually the match, 7-5, 7-5.
"I just came up with a few big shots in the first set," said the Lansing native. "After that I gained a lot of confidence and (Newmark) started missing a few shots. I was feeling pretty good and the match just turned my way."
Three other Spartans would win in three different ways. Mitchell avenged his doubles loss by giving up only four games to Brandon Gill at No. 2 singles in a 6-4, 6-0 win. He completed the match by winning eight straight games. Simonton, though, dropped the first set at No. 4, 6-3, to Weaver, but picked up his eighth singles win of the 2002-03 season by grabbing the next two sets, 6-3, 6-2.
The deciding point came down to the smallest Spartan on the team. Marshall's match with Voelz duplicated Simonton's first two sets as the 5'9 sophomore dropped the first set to Voelz, 6-3, but bounced back to take the second, 6-3. With Michigan State up 3-2 overall against the Bulldogs and needing only one more point for the win, Marshall struggled in the third, losing the first three games. However, he would fight back to even the match at 3-3. Holding off one match point against him at 5-4, Marshall dominated play and forced Voelz into making many unforced errors to pick up his first singles victory at No. 3 singles in his career with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) triumph.
"I knew it was going to be tight after losing the doubles point," said Marshall. "But after being down match point and (Voelz) barely missing a passing shot, I was able to turn it up from there. I had to dig deep but I was pretty confident in my game."
With the doubleheader, head coach Gene Orlando had the opportunity to mix his lineup around. As a result, three different players contributed to MSU's 7-0 victory over Wright State (0-2 overall, 0-0 Horizon League).
Sophomore Anthony Stefani (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) teamed up with freshman Mike Brown (Portage, Mich.) in Brown's first collegiate dual match and defeated Brian Gavin and Brian Savino, 8-2, at No. 2. Junior Mike Jonckheere (London, Ont.) picked up a doubles win at No. 3 with Efros by getting past Fredrico Mas and Scott Hayden, 8-3. Formanczyk and Mitchell rebounded off their morning loss to take an 8-1 victory at No. 1 over Brian Butt and Quincy Jones.
Michigan State would not give up a single point to Wright State for the third consecutive year as the Spartans won every set in singles. Marshall and Simonton won for the third time on the day and Jonckheere and Brown collected their first singles wins of the dual match season. Mitchell and Hourani also went undefeated in singles to round out MSU's impressive arsenal.
The Spartans will remain at home next weekend for a doubleheader against Toledo and Dayton. State hosts the Rockets at 10 a.m. and the Flyers at 4 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 25).
Saturday's Results Against ButlerDoublesNo. 1 Gill/Gill (BU) def. Formanczyk/Mitchell (MSU) 8-5No. 2 Marshall/Simonton (MSU) def. Annan/Voelz (BU) 8-3No. 3 Newmark/Weaver (BU) def. Efros/Hourani (MSU) 8-4
SinglesNo. 1 Kevin Gill (BU) def. Andrew Formanczyk (MSU) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-0No. 2 Chris Mitchell (MSU) def. Brandon Gill (BU) 6-4, 6-0No. 3 Cameron Marshall (MSU) def. Peter Voelz (BU) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(1)No. 4 Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Mike Weaver (BU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2No. 5 Adam Hourani (MSU) def. Scott Newmark (BU) 7-5, 7-5No. 6 Aubrey Annan (BU) def. Josh Efros (MSU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1Michigan State defeats Butler, 4-3
Saturday's Results Against Wright StateDoublesNo. 1 Formanczyk/Mitchell (MSU) def. Butt/Jones (WSU) 8-1No. 2 Brown/Stefani (MSU) def. Gavin/Savino (WSU) 8-2No. 3 Efros/Jonckheere (MSU) def. Hayden/Mas (WSU) 8-3
SinglesNo. 1 Chris Mitchell (MSU) def. Quincy Jones (WSU) 6-4, 6-4No. 2 Cameron Marshall (MSU) def. Brian Butt (WSU) 7-5, 7-5No. 3 Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Kevin Teufel (WSU) 6-1, 6-4No. 4 Adam Hourani (MSU) def. Brian Savino (WSU) 6-4, 6-1No. 5 Mike Jonckheere (MSU) def. Scott Hayden (WSU) 6-2, 6-2No. 6 Mike Brown (MSU) def. Fredrico Mas (WSU) 7-5, 6-2Michigan State defeats Wright State, 7-0
Players Mentioned
