Michigan State University
Louisville
No. 58 Spartans Upset No. 52 Louisville, 4-3
1/31/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Jan. 31, 2004
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Two very similar teams met at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility Saturday when No. 52 Louisville faced the No. 58 Michigan State men's tennis team and as expected, emotions were running high. Fortunately for the Spartans (5-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten), they erased a 3-1 deficit and captured the final three matches all in three sets for a 4-3 upset over the Cardinals (3-3, 0-0 Conference USA).
"Louisville is always a tough team and they are ranked ahead of us so we wanted to get off to a good start," said freshman Joseph McWilliams (Aurora, Ill.) "Our focus was tremendous and once we got the momentum going everything seemed to go the right way."
Doubles opened up and State drove out to a 1-0 lead early. Senior Chris Mitchell (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and junior Andrew Formanczyk (Rochester Hills, Mich.) outdueled Jeremy Clark and Matt Mayer at No. 2, 8-4. The Louisville duo, which had played at the No. 3 spot all season, was undefeated (5-0) before the loss to MSU. The Cardinals stormed back, though, at No. 3 when Jakob Gustafsson and Damar Johnson defeated MSU's Anthony Stefani (Jr., Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) and Mike Brown (So., Portage, Mich.), 8-6.
State's top doubles team of senior Eric Simonton (Annandale, N.J.) and Louisville native Cameron Marshall (Jr.) were showing signs of life after trailing 6-4 to Jhonny Berrido and Octavian Nicodim. A Simonton return of serve that UL hit into the net on break point helped the Spartans get back into the match and they eventually grabbed their first lead at 8-7 with another break. Although UL forced a tiebreaker, two double faults by Nicodim and a backhand volley winner by Marshall on the first match point gave State the 9-8(3) win and the doubles point.
The first half of singles play looked bleak for MSU, especially when Louisville captured the first three points at No. 6, No. 3 and then at No. 2 and had a one set advantage at No. 4. But that's when State took charge. Simonton stunned Johnson at No. 4 by winning the second set and moved out to 5-3 lead in the third. McWilliams, meanwhile, was also at 5-3 in the third after splitting sets at No. 5 with Gustafsson. After Gustafsson hit a return into the net to give McWilliams the match, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, Simonton tied the overall score at 3-3 when Johnson hit a groundstroke into the net on his serve for the MSU point, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
"It's not that hard (to come back after losing a set) when you think of the other five guys on the other courts that really want to win," said McWilliams, who is now 11-3 during his first year at State. "Everything plays a role in these matches, especially the crowd because even though you can't see what's going on in some matches you can tell something's happening."
With all of the players and spectators now focused on one court, Formanczyk, ranked No. 100 in the nation, was on serve at 3-2 with Nicodim at No. 1. But Formanczyk converted on a break point to reach 4-2 which energized the crowd. However, Nicodim stood strong and even had a break point at 30-40. Formanczyk saved it, though, to get to deuce where the game seemed to never end. The Spartan junior's first game point saw him go for a winner with a backwards shot between the legs. Nicodim was able to win the point, but Formanczyk held serve on the fourth game point. At 5-2, Formanczyk closed out the contest on the third match point with a UL groundstroke falling just wide for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory as well as a 4-3 Michigan State triumph.
The victory evens the series between MSU and UL at 3-3. Formanczyk continues to lead the team in singles wins with a 14-4 mark for the season and a 5-0 record in dual matches. The duo of Marshall and Simonton also improved their record to 11-5 this season (5-0 in dual match play) while Formanczyk and Mitchell are now 9-5 (4-0).
State returns to the courts Sunday (Feb. 1) with a home doubleheader against No. 33 Wake Forest at 12 p.m. and Valparaiso at 5 p.m.
Saturday's Results vs. LouisvilleDoublesNo. 1 Cameron Marshall/Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Jhonny Berrido/Octavian Nicodim (UL) 9-8(3)No. 2 Andrew Formanczyk/Chris Mitchell (MSU) def. Jeremy Clark/Matt Mayer (UL) 8-4No. 3 Jakob Gustafsson/Damar Johnson (UL) def. Mike Brown/Anthony Stefani (MSU) 8-6SinglesNo. 1 #100 Andrew Formanczyk (MSU) def. Octavian Nicodim (UL) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2No. 2 Jhonny Berrido (UL) def. Cameron Marshall (MSU) 6-2, 7-6(4)No. 3 Matt Mayer (UL) def. Chris Mitchell (MSU) 6-4, 6-4No. 4 Eric Simonton (MSU) def. Damar Johnson (UL) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3No. 5 Joseph McWilliams (MSU) def. Jakob Gustafsson (UL) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3No. 6 Jeremy Clark (UL) def. Michael Flowers (MSU) 6-1, 6-3No. 58 Michigan State defeats No. 52 Louisville, 4-3Records: MSU 5-0 Overall, 0-0 Big Ten UL 3-3 Overall, 0-0 Conf. USAOrder of Finish: Doubles 2, 3, 1 Singles 6, 3, 2, 5, 4, 1Length of Match: 3:30
