Spartans Bound For Minneapolis, Big Ten Tournament
4/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 26, 2006
Championship Information/Results
Minneapolis, Minn. - The Michigan State men's team travels to Minneapolis, Minnesota to open play that the 2006 Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans have earned the conference's No. 10 seed and will battle No. 7 Northwestern in a preliminary round match-up, at the University of Minnesota, on Thursday, April 27, at 3 p.m. With a win, the Green and White would advance to face No. 2 Illinois in the conference quarterfinals.
SPARTAN REWIND
Michigan State closed out the regular season with a pair of road losses, at Indiana, on Friday, and Penn State, on Sunday, by identical 6-1 scores. The Spartans fi nished the 2006 spring season with a 7-17 overall record and a 1-9 record in conference play.
Friday's lone point came via freshman John Allare's victory at No. 3 singles, vs. Hoosier Dara McLoughlin. On Saturday, sophomore Adam Monich netted a, 6-3, 7-6, decision over Penn State's Malcolm Scatliffe.
SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN
The Wildcats earned the Big Ten Tournament's seveth-seed, on the strength of a 5-5 conference record, in 2006. Northwestern finished the season with an overall mark of 11-10, including a 7-0 victory over Michigan State on Feb. 25. Freshman John Allare and junior Joe McWilliams netted the lone Spartan victory, that day, posting an 8-2 win at No. 3 doubles.
The Wildcats are led in singles-play by the duo of Christian Tempke and Willy Lock. Tempke plays at No. 1 for Northwestern and has posted a 11-9 overall mark this season. Lock has been dominant at the No. 2 position, pacing the purple and white with a 14-5 singles record. Adam Schaechterle provides rotation depth with a 13-5 combined mark at the Nos. 5 and 6 slots.
Schaechterle teams with Matt Christian to form the Wildcats top doubles combination. The tandem boasts an 11-7 mark this season out of the No. 1 position.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
Ohio State fi nished a perfect 10-0 in conference play this season, earning the No. 1 seed overall. The Buckeye's narrowly edged second-seeded Illinois, who fi nished the year at 9-1 in the Big Ten. Minnesota (7-3), Michigan (6-4) and Indiana (5-5) placed third, fourth and fi fth, respectively garnering first-round byes.
With a 5-5 conference record Penn State secured the No. 6 ranking and will face No. 11 Iowa (1-9) in the fi rst round. Northwestern and MSU will meet in the seven vs. ten matchup, while Wisconsin is seeded eighth and will face No. 9 Purdue.
LEADING OFF
Sophomore Nick Rinks fi nished the season with the team's best singles and overall winning percentages. Rinks netted a 14-8 singles ledger, playing exclusively at the No. 1 position, and sports a 27-16 overall mark this spring.
Rink's performance often sets the tone for his teammates; the team is 7-7 when the Kalamazoo, Mich., native wins at No. 1 and 0-10 when he does not. The Spartans are 6-9 when Rinks and partner Adam Monich win at No. 1 doubles, and just 1-12 when they fail to do so.
WALKER THIS WAY
With a shorthanded line-up and a pair of conference road games on the schedule, the Spartans turned to walk-on freshman Chris Walker. Walker filled in for Michigan State at No. 6 singles and partnered with classmate Scott Rasmussen at No. 3 doubles over the weekend.
BACK FOR MORE
The Spartans will be looking to advance to the Big Ten quarterfinals for the fourth-consectutive season. In each of the previous three seasons, MSU was eventually bounced by the University of Illinois, whom they would meet in the quarterfi nals this season, should they defeate Northwestern on Thursday, April 27.
Last season the Spartans knocked off Iowa in the preliminary round, before dropping a tough decision to Illinois in the quarters. The Spartans dropped a quarterfi nal contest vs. U of I, 4-0, while in 2002-03, Michigan State advanced to the conference semi-fi nals, falling 4-0 to the Fighting Illini.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
Sophomore Adam Monich posted a pair of victories over the weekend, in Michigan State's road-losses at Indiana and Penn State. Monich teamed with classmate Nick Rinks to earned an 8-4 victory over Indiana's Dmytri Ishtuganov and Dara McLoughlin, on Friday, April 21, before dispatching of Penn State's Malcolm Scatliffe, 6-3, 7-5, on Sunday, April 23.
In the process, Monich upped his 2006 singles record to 9-15, with all nine wins coming at the No. 2 position. In doubles play, Monich sports a 14-10 record, leaving the Ann Arbor, Mich., native with an overall mark of 22-24 this spring.
Players Mentioned
