Michigan State University
Penn St
MSU Men's Tennis Falls To Penn State, 5-2
3/22/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 22, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's tennis team fell to Penn State Saturday (March 22), 5-2, at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing. The No. 73 Spartans are now 9-7 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten. The No. 75 Nittany Lions improve to 10-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten.
MSU went down 1-0 to PSU early Saturday as they lost the doubles point. The No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Cameron Marshall (Louisville, KY) and junior Eric Simonton (Annandale, N.J.) defeated PSU's Roddy Cantey and Clint Keithley 8-6. The No. 2 and 3 doubles matches were claimed by Penn State giving them the early 1-0 edge on MSU.
The Spartans went down 0-2 after senior Jimmy McGuire (Columbus, Ohio) was defeated in the No. 5 singles spot by Clint Keithley, 6-1, 6-4. MSU, however, managed to battle back in singles play to tie up PSU 2-2 when Cameron Marshall downed Roddy Cantey, 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 3 singles position and Eric Simonton defeated Todd Stecko, 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot
The tension mounted, as the teams were tied 2-2 with three matches left to finish. Senior Goran Topalo (Prague, Czech Rep.) dropped his match to Malcolm Scatliffe, 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 4 singles position, giving the Nittany Lions a 3-2 lead.
The last two matches brought some excitement to the MSU tennis facility. Both the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches would determine the outcome of the match and both would go three sets. After taking a 6-4 lead in the first set at the No. 2 spot, junior Chris Mitchell (Ann Arbor, Mich.) fell 1-6 in the next two sets securing the victory for Penn State. Sophomore Andrew Formanczyk (Rochester Hills, Mich.) battled at the No. 1 spot but fell to Nate Emge, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
The Spartans return to action Monday (March 24) as they travel to Louisville.
Saturday's Results Against No. 75 Penn StateDoublesNo. 1 Marshall/Simonton (MSU) def. CatneyKeithley (PSU) 8-6No. 2 Nudell/Scatliffe (PSU) def. Hourani/McGuire (MSU) 9-8 (4)No. 3 Barry/Emge (PSU) def. Mitchell/Formanczyk (MSU) 8-3
SinglesNo. 1 Nate Emge (PSU) def. Andrew Formanczyk (MSU) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1No. 2 Mark Barry (PSU) def. Chris Mitchell (MSU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1No. 3 Cameron Marshall (MSU) def. Roddy Cantey (PSU) 6-1, 6-3No. 4 Malcolm Scatliffe (PSU) def. Goran Topalo (MSU) 6-3, 6-2No. 5 Clint Keithley (PSU) def. Jimmy McGuire (MSU) 6-1, 6-4No. 6 Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Todd Stecko (PSU) 6-2, 6-2
Penn State defeats Michigan State, 5-2
