Michigan State University
Ohio State
Michigan State Upsets Buckeyes
4/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 16, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio- - The Spartan Women's tennis team played their final Big Ten road match of the season, Sunday, April 16, defeating No. 73 Ohio State, 4-3. The Spartans improve to 13-8 overall and up their Big Ten mark to 3-5 on the year. Ohio State falls to 13-10 overall with a 3-5 league record. The Spartans' close out the Big Ten season with their last home stand next weekend, against No. 35 Indiana and Penn State.
Michigan State won the doubles point to start the match by taking the wins at Nos. 2 and 3. At No. 3 doubles, Pascale Schnitzer (Santiago, Chile) and Ana Milosavljevic (Johannesburg, South Africa) downed Ciara Finucane and Kristin Messmer by a score of 8-3. The No.1 doubles match finished next, with Caitlin O'Keefe and Julie Blackmore beating Christine Bader (Okemos, Mich.) and Sarah Andrews (Darwin, Australia), 8-4. Freshman Stephanie Kebler (Okemos, Mich.) and junior Jessica Baron (Miami, Fla.) stepped up at the No. 2 spot, defeating Sonia Ruzimovsky and Anglela DiPastina, 8-5, to give MSU the doubles point.
Singles play began with Michigan State's top two singles player falling in straight sets. Bader faced Ruzimovsky, losing 7-6, 6-3. At the No. 2 slot, Schnitzer came up short against O'Keefe, who won 7-6, 6-1.
Doubles partners Baron and Kebler picked State up once again, as they both won their singles matches. At the No. 3, Baron took her first set 7-5 over Blackmore and then took the second, 7-6. Kebler also won her match against Finucane in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
Junior Sarah Andrews lost her match at the No. 5 spot to Messmer in three sets, to square the team score. After loosing the first set, 6-3, Andrews rebounded to take the next, 6-3. The third set, however, belonged to Messmer, who took the set, again by a score of 6-3.
With the team score tied at 3-3, the last match to finish was the No. 6 singles match. MSU's Milosavljevic played Ohio State's DiPastina in a three set match. Milosavljevic took the first set 6-4, but lost the next by the same score. In the third and match deciding set, Milosavljevic defeated DiPastina, 6-3, giving Michigan State a 4-3 win.
The Spartans will be in action next week when they face No. 35 Indiana and Penn State in their last two home matches of the year. Michigan State will play Indiana at 10 a.m. on April 22, and will play Penn State the next day.
Michigan State 4, #73 Ohio State 3
Singles competition
1. Sonia Ruzimovsky (OSU) def. Christine Bader (MSU) 7-6, 6-3
2. Caitlin O'Keefe (OSU) def. Pascale Schnitzer (MSU) 7-6, 6-1
3. Jessica Baron (MSU) def. Julie Blackmore (OSU) 7-5, 7-6
4. Stephanie Kebler (MSU) def. Ciara Finucane (OSU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Kristin Messmer (OSU) def. Sarah Andrews (MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
6. Ana Milosavljevic (MSU) def. Angela DiPastina (OSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Caitlin O'Keefe/Julie Blackmore (OSU) def. Christine Bader/Sarah Andrews (MSU) 8-4
2. Stephanie Kebler/Jessica Baron (MSU) def. Sonia Ruzimovsky/Angela DiPastina (OSU) 8-5
3. Pascale Schnitzer/Ana Milosavljevic (MSU) def. Ciara Finucane/Kristin Messmer (OSU) 8-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (2,1,4,5,3,6)
Players Mentioned
