Michigan State University
Air Force
Michigan State Tops Air Force, 6-1
2/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State men's tennis team stretched its win streak to five after defeating Air Force 6-1 in the opening match of the Presidents' Weekend, Feb. 17. MSU improved to 7-3 on the season, while Air Force fell to 3-4.
"Winning a very competitive doubles point was a great start to the match and then we took the momentum after a couple singles," said head coach Gene Orlando. "A big credit to Air Force they kept us on our toes and they made it tough matches. It was a hard fought 6-1 win."
Junior Brett Forman and sophomore Alexander Kim fell 6-1 at No. 3 doubles to Isaac Perez and Mack Galvin. The Spartans quickly battled back with a 6-2 victory in the No. 2 doubles from sophomore Billy Shisler and freshman Doug Francken. MSU's juniors Michael Dube and Jasper Koenen rounded out doubles play and pushed their No. 1 doubles win streak to three with a 7-5 match victory.
"I like how we responded in doubles," said Orlando. "We got up a lead at one and we quickly lost it and got down but we stuck with it and came back to win the doubles point. Again, Air Force came with a lot of emotion and a lot of spirit and toughness to make that doubles point a battle."
Koenen pushed his match-win streak to five with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Max Olson at No. 2 singles. Sophomore Ivan Rakic gave MSU the 3-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles. Junior Brett Forman sealed the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Lucas Fumgalli at the No. 1 position. After tonight Forman has five consecutive wins at the No. 1 singles position.
Shisler fell at No. 6 singles to Mack Galvin 7-5, 6-4, before sophomore Ivan Rakic and Dube closed out the meet with victories at No. 5 and No. 2 singles, respectively.
"It's going to be a quick turn around with a 2 p.m. match but our focus is to get better every time we go out and play," said Orlando. "Each match we're looking to get better and improve on our game. We'll take this momentum from tonight into Army tomorrow."
Michigan State will turn around to face Army at 2 p.m. at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility tomorrow, Feb. 18. Army and Air Force will play their dual match on Sunday, Feb. 19 at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility at 10 a.m.
Players Mentioned
