Spartans Prepare for Big Ten Tournament
4/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. - After a clutch 4-3 win over No. 72 Iowa to close out the regular season, the MSU men's tennis team (11-17, 1-10) will look to carry that momentum into the Big Ten Men's Tennis Tournament on Thursday as the Spartans take on Penn State (20-7, 6-5) at 5:30 p.m.
"The biggest thing we have going for us now is that Vitamin W," MSU head coach Gene Orlando said. "We've got that winning feeling again and the more you get, the better you feel. That's how we're looking at it and we want to go get another W."
The Spartans enter the tournament as the No. 11 seed after defeating Iowa on Sunday and will take on the Nittany Lions, the No. 6 seed, on Thursday at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
"We're just trying to ride the momentum from the win we got against Iowa and take it from there," MSU junior Mac Roy said. "We had a good chance against Penn State during the regular season so hopefully we've got some confidence and can go in and take the first round and see what happens from there."
The Spartans gained that confidence and momentum over the weekend when redshirt freshman Alexander Kim won a marathon match, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), at No. 4 singles to clinch MSU's first Big Ten victory and first win over a ranked opponent on the season.
"It definitely boosts the team's confidence and opened the eyes of our young lineup," Roy said. "We just saw that coming from behind is a battle, but winning is such a good feeling that hopefully that'll motivate us to play a little harder."
The Spartans fell to Penn State during the regular season, 7-0, on March 19. In that match both Mac Roy and Michael Dube pushed their matches to three sets, but came up short. Jasper Koenen lost a close 7-6, 7-6 match and Kim forced a tiebreak in his first set. Penn State was ranked No. 27 in the nation at the time and has fallen to No. 35 in the latest national rankings.
"We did have some competitive matches with them at a few spots and I feel like this could be the perfect storm," Orlando said. "We're still going to have to play well, but the pressure is on them because we have nothing to lose."
The winner of Thursday's match will go on to play Illinois, the No. 3 seed, at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
LAST TIME OUT
The Spartans closed out the regular season on a positive note with a 4-3 win over No. 72 Iowa at the MSU Outdoor Tennis Courts on Sunday, April 24.
Michigan State came from behind all afternoon, with Iowa taking the doubles point and a 1-0 advantage after the Hawkeyes secured wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles.
The Spartans bounced back in singles play, with Mac Roy, Jasper Koenen and Billy Shisler all winning their singles matchups at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6 singles, respectively. The Hawkeyes won at No. 2 and No. 5, leaving the match on Kim's shoulders at No. 4.
After losing the opening set, Kim came back to win the match, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) to secure the victory for the Spartans.
BIG TEN TOURNEY
The Spartans are in search of their first win in the Big Ten Men's Tennis Tournament since a 4-0 victory against Nebraska during the 2013-14 season.
Thursday's match will be the first postseason meeting between the Spartans and Nittany Lions since April 25, 2002, when Penn State won, 4-2. The Spartans won the previous three postseason matchups with Penn State and hold a 3-2 record against the Nittany Lions in postseason play under head coach Gene Orlando.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PENN STATE
The Nittany Lions enter postseason play after a weekend split with a loss to No. 14 Northwestern and an upset victory over No. 15 Illinois. Penn State also posted two losses to unranked opponents in April.
Tomas Hanzlik and Leo Stakhovsky lead the Nittany Lions in singles play with 16 wins apiece. Stakhovsky tallied 15 of his wins at No. 1 with Hanzlik's wins spread mostly over No. 4 and No. 5.
The pairing of David Kohan and Christian Lutschaunig leads Penn State in doubles with 12 victories.
Players Mentioned
