Michigan State Travels to Big Ten Indoor Championships
11/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Michigan -- The Michigan State men's tennis team will pack their bags and head to Madison, Wisconsin, to compete in the Big Ten Indoor Championships tournament starting Friday, November 3. The competition stretches from Friday, November 3 to Monday, November 7.
"We are looking to continue to improve, and have everyone to play their best tennis so far this season," said head coach Gene Orlando. "We have high hopes that each player can make their individual runs, and play their best tennis this weekend."
Michigan State will send eight Spartans to the tournament this weekend. MSU does not have any seniors, but are led by a core of three juniors. After sitting out last season due to injury, Brett Forman has returned to the front of the program, and Jasper Koenen and Michael Dube also help lead this young Spartan team.
Four sophomores are the bulk of the men's tennis team as they return for their second fall season at the collegiate level. Michigan State welcomes one freshman, Doug Francken to the team who will compete in his first collegiate match in the Green and White.
"We have had some time to regroup after our last tournament, and we have made some changes and adjustments to be the best we can be," said Orlando.
Sophomores Colin Harvey and Ivan Rakic will return to action in doubles play, after contending in their last meet as a dynamic duo in the doubles play.
Dube and Koenen will also see doubles play action. Last weekend at the ITA Regionals, Dube and Koenen took down their opponents in the first round before falling in the round of 32.
Forman and sophomore Alexander Kim will play as a team in their first doubles play together this weekend. Along with sophomore Billy Shisler and Francken trying out their first time as partners in doubles play.
"We are looking forward to putting our plans into action this weekend, and hopefully have some deep runs throughout this tournament," said Orlando.
The first round of singles will begin Friday, and then will roll over into Saturday and Sunday. The matches will start on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 9 a.m. and the championship matches will also be played at 9 a.m. on Monday morning.
Teams competing in the tournament will be Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin.
The link to access draws, results and live video is here: Tournament Page.
All results will be posted to msuspartans.com at the conclusion of each day.
"At the end of the day, it's an opportunity for us to see some of the action of the teams around the Big Ten. It is a great opportunity for the guys to compete against high level competition, and we get to take advantage of how strong our conference is. To have this individual tournament is something very special," concluded Orlando.
Players Mentioned
