Michigan State University
Indiana
Men's Tennis Surprises No. 28 Indiana, 6-1
4/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 6, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Coming off a 5-2 victory over rival Michigan, the Michigan State men's tennis team dominated singles play against No. 28 Indiana in a 6-1 victory Sunday (April 6). The win moves the Spartans (12-9 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) into a tie with the Hoosiers (11-6, 3-3) for fifth place.
"Every win in the Big Ten is like winning ten matches," said head coach Gene Orlando. "We've waited three years for this kind of team and we're committed to making this program even stronger. We have a great opportunity at taking this team even higher."
The first point would not come easy as break points came early and often for both teams in doubles. Four consecutive breaks of serve highlighted the match at No. 3 where junior Chris Mitchell (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and sophomore Andrew Formanczyk (Rochester Hills, Mich.) battled IU's Petr Novotny and Jakub Praibis. After Indiana eliminated three match points from State at 7-6, Formanczyk held serve and State put the match away in the next game for a 9-7 win.
Michigan State would hold small advantages in the remaining matches, however the Hoosiers managed to sneak out two wins as well as the doubles point. Seniors Adam Hourani (Lansing, Mich.) and Jimmy McGuire (Columbus, Ohio) fell behind 7-5 to Ryan Recht and John Stone at No. 2, but Hourani held serve and IU double-faulted in the next game on break point to tie the score at 7-7. The teams would reach a tiebreaker as State would take a 5-2 lead only to see Indiana take the final five points for a 9-8(5) win. At No. 1, junior Eric Simonton (Annandale, N.J.) and sophomore Cameron Marshall (Louisville, Ky.) drove out to a 3-0 lead with two breaks over Zach Held and Viktor Libal. The Indiana duo, though, would recover and win the match on its third match point, 9-7.
Indiana would use the momentum of a 1-0 advantage in singles by jumping out to an early lead in many matches. Senior Goran Topalo (Prague Czech Rep.) would have other plans at No. 4 vs. Novotny. One of the Spartans' top players this spring, Topalo wasted no time in defeating Novotny, 6-3, 6-4, to move his record to 12-5 and 4-2 in the conference.
Simonton would give MSU its first lead with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Julien Vulliez at No. 6. The junior held serve in the final game by putting away a huge net point at 40-15 to seal the match. The win moved his winning streak to six and gave him a team-high 21-13 record (5-1 in the Big Ten).
Michigan State once again grabbed the next point as McGuire edged Recht at No. 5, 6-4, 6-4. Recht almost broke McGuire in the last game by picking up three points to reach 30-40. But the Spartan co-captain would serve himself out of the jam and forced Recht to hit the second match point into the net. The victory tied McGuire's career mark in singles wins with 17 as well as his Big Ten mark of four.
The Green and White secured the overall victory against Indiana at the No. 3 position. After Held defeated Marshall in doubles action, Held worked his way to a 2-0 lead in singles play. Marshall, however, would dig deep and give up only one more game to take the first set, 6-3. The second set went the limit as Marshall took a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker where Held had to take an injury timeout. After play resumed, the score moved to 5-2 and Marshall used a drop volley to get to match point. Held would win the next point but the Spartan sophomore went to his bag of tricks and pulled out a crosscourt passing shot to take the match, 6-3, 7-6(3).
"When we came home after the Iowa win and beating Michigan this week," smiled Marshall, "we knew we were going to come out and play well today. Everybody contributed and it's a great feeling for us to sweep the singles matches. It's always tough to lose at doubles but we still had a ton of fire."
The No. 1 match that pitted Formanczyk and Praibis, who was ranked No. 81 in the nation, entered a first-set tiebreaker around the same time Topalo finished his match at No. 4. Praibis cradled a 4-1 lead before Formanczyk tied the score at 4-4. MSU picked up a set point at 6-5 but Indiana threw in an ace to even the score once again. On the next two points, Formanczyk used a crosscourt forehand winner and an unreturnable serve to take the set. State would cruise in the second set by taking the match, 7-6(6), 6-2.
Dropping the first set at No. 2 to Libal, Mitchell popped an ace down the middle on set point to take the second. Using an ace to win his fifth game in the third to make the score 5-3, Mitchell completed the match by winning a net point at 40-30 for his second straight Big Ten singles win, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"When we lost to Penn State, we lost some confidence as with the loss to Louisville," described Orlando. "But we've been flying high since the win vs. Iowa and we're finally winning the tight matches. After losing the doubles point today, I thought we were going to struggle but we were fortunate enough to play well in singles."
Michigan State will return to action Saturday (April 12) when the Spartans travel to face No. 1 Illinois and Sunday (April 13) when MSU visits Purdue.
Sunday's Results Against No. 28 IndianaDoublesNo. 1 Held/Libal (IU) def. Marshall/Simonton (MSU) 9-7No. 2 Recht/Stone (IU) def. Hourani/McGuire (MSU) 9-8(5)No. 3 Formanczyk/Mitchell (MSU) def. Novotny/Praibis (IU) 9-7
SinglesNo. 1 Andrew Formanczyk (MSU) def. No. 81 Jakub Praibis (IU) 7-6(6), 6-2No. 2 Chris Mitchell (MSU) def. Viktor Libal (IU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4No. 3 Cameron Marshall (MSU) def. Zach Held (IU) 6-3, 7-6(3)No. 4 Goran Topalo (MSU) def. Petr Novotny (IU) 6-3, 6-4No. 5 Jimmy McGuire (MSU) def. Ryan Recht (IU) 6-4, 6-4No. 6 Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Juliean Vulliez (IU) 6-2, 6-4Michigan State defeats Indiana, 6-1
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