Michigan State University
Wright State
Men's Tennis Sweeps Season-Opening Doubleheader
1/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 17, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. -
Jan. 17, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State's campus may have been covered in a large white blanket of snow, but the men's tennis season kicked into high gear Saturday at the Indoor Tennis Facility. The Spartans won both matches to begin the season as they knocked off Toledo, 7-0, and Wright State, 7-0.
State (2-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten) dominated doubles early against the Rockets (0-1 overall, 0-0 MAC). MSU broke UT's serve on the first game of each match and took a commanding lead on all three courts. At No. 1, senior Eric Simonton (Annandale, N.J.) and junior Cameron Marshall (Louisville, Ky.) cruised to a 6-1 lead against Khalid Al Nabhani and Tony Tran. After holding off five UT break points to reach 7-1, State broke serve for the 8-1 win.
"I thought I played pretty solid," said Marshall. "I've still got some kinks to work out, but everybody on this team has some as well. Eric and I are playing very well, too. The biggest thing of all is making our first serves and our first volleys."
Senior Chris Mitchell (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and junior Andrew Formanczyk (Rochester Hills, Mich.) also managed to control a huge lead at No. 2. The duo won the first six games over Freddy Gomez and Cristobal Toral before UT got on the board. But MSU managed to take the final two games as it broke serve at love for an 8-1 victory, thus securing the doubles point. At No. 3, though, junior Anthony Stefani (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) and sophomore Mike Brown (Portage, Mich.) held a 4-0 advantage only to see the Rockets' Travis Curran and Todd Wojtkowski pick up steam and take the match 8-5.
In singles, freshmen Michael Flowers (Memphis, Tenn.) and Joseph McWilliams (Aurora, Ill.) got their first taste of collegiate dual match action and did not let it go to waste. Flowers was the first Spartan to pick up a singles point with a 6-0, 6-2 showing over Curran at No. 6.
Before McWilliams' match concluded, Mitchell battled Al Nabhani at No. 3 and waited until the closing moments of the opening set to grab his first lead of the match at 6-5. As Mitchell completed the set on the next game with a backhand winner, he went on take the second set 6-2 to seal the win.
MSU's next three points all came within a matter of seconds. Formanczyk successfully used his serve early against Tran at No. 1 for a 6-1 first set win. But Tran drove out to a 5-1 lead in the second and eventually had three set points at 5-4. Formanczyk, though, held serve and escaped with a 6-1, 7-6(1) triumph. Marshall then picked up his point by defeating Gomez at No. 2, 6-1, 7-5, and McWilliams wrapped up his match vs. Toral at No. 5 with a 6-2, 6-4 victory. Simonton delivered State's final point minutes later at No. 4 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Wojtkowski.
Michigan State capped off the day by taking every match against Wright State (0-2 overall, 0-0 Horizon). Flowers and McWilliams entered the doubles mix and picked up their first dual-match win while the duos of Marshall/Simonton and Brown/Stefani were also victorious. In singles action, Formanczyk, Mitchell, McWilliams, Flowers, Brown and Stefani all won in straight sets.
The Spartans' next battle will be Saturday (Jan. 24) with a home doubleheader against Butler at 10 a.m. and Cleveland State at 4 p.m.
Saturday's Results Vs. ToledoDoublesNo. 1 Cameron Marshall/Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Khalid Al Nabhani/Tony Tran (UT) 8-1No. 2 Andrew Formanczyk/Chris Mitchell (MSU) def. Freddy Gomez/Cristobal Toral (UT) 8-1No. 3 Travis Curran/Todd Wojtkowski (UT) def. Mike Brown/Anthony Stefani (MSU) 8-5SinglesNo. 1 #100 Andrew Formanczyk (MSU) def. Tony Tran (UT) 6-1, 7-6(1)No. 2 Cameron Marshall (MSU) def. Freddy Gomez (UT) 6-1, 7-5No. 3 Chris Mitchell (MSU) def. Khalid Al Nabhani (UT) 7-5, 6-2No. 4 Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Todd Wojtkowski (UT) 7-5, 6-3No. 5 Joseph McWilliams (MSU) def. Cristobal Toral (UT) 6-2, 6-4No. 6 Michael Flowers (MSU) def. Travis Curran (UT) 6-0, 6-2Michigan State Defeats Toledo, 7-0Records: MSU 1-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten UT 0-1 overall, 0-0 MACOrder of Finish: Doubles 1, 2, 3 Singles 6, 3, 1, 2, 5, 4Length of Match: 2:42
Saturday's Results Vs. Wright StateDoublesNo. 1 Cameron Marshall/Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Scott Hayden/Kevin Teufel (WSU) 8-2No. 2 Michael Flowers/Joseph McWilliams (MSU) def. Mike Faucher/Brian Gavin (WSU) 8-3No. 3 Mike Brown/Anthony Stefani (MSU) def. Brian Butt/Dan Sundersingh (WSU) 8-1SinglesNo. 1 #100 Andrew Formanczyk (MSU) def. Brian Butt (WSU) 6-1, 6-0No. 2 Chris Mitchell (MSU) def. Kevin Teufel (WSU) 7-6(5), 6-1No. 3 Joseph McWilliams (MSU) def. Brian Gavin (WSU) 6-3, 6-3No. 4 Michael Flowers (MSU) def. Scott Hayden (WSU) 6-1, 6-2No. 5 Mike Brown (MSU) def. Brian Savino (WSU) 6-0, 6-1No. 6 Anthony Stefani (MSU) def. Dan Sundersingh (WSU) 6-0, 6-1Michigan State Defeats Wright State, 7-0Records: MSU 2-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten WSU 0-2 overall, 0-0 HorzionOrder of Finish: Doubles 3, 1, 2 Singles 5, 1, 6, 4, 3, 2Length of Match: 2:16
