Michigan State University
Auburn
Spartans Fall To No. 14 Auburn, 4-3
2/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's tennis team fell in a hard-fought battle with No. 14 Auburn, 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. It was the Spartans first loss of the season, as they are now 6-1 on the year, while Auburn improves to 7-0 this spring.
MSU trailed 3-0 early, but the Spartans hung around and eventually came back to tie the match at 3-3 before falling in the deciding match.
"I am proud of the way we competed and responded after doubles," said head coach Kim Bruno. "I thought we came out a little timid in doubles. 4-3 matches can go either way and we wanted to be in a situation where we could win and that's what we fought back to do. This was a great team we just played, but we had the win on our rackets. So, if we put ourselves in that position, we are going to come out ahead a lot more. I think a match like today can fuel the fire. It shows us the process is working. We have to keep believing in what we are doing and the next time the match is on our rackets, we are going to take it."
The Tigers won the doubles point by winning 6-2 at both the first and second doubles court. Senior Erin Faulkner battled in a tough first set at first singles, but eventually fell 7-6 in a tiebreaker to Auburn's Alizee Michaud, who is ranked 13th in the nation by ITA Tennis. Michaud then took the second set 6-1.
After the Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead following a win on second singles court, the Spartans began to mount a comeback. Senior Athena Trouillot earned the first win of the day for the Spartans and improved to 10-4 on the season with a win in straight sets at sixth singles, 6-1, 6-4.
On court three, Emily Metcalf battled all afternoon on her way to a sixth straight victory. The sophomore took the first set 6-2. After Auburn's Alannah Griffin took the second set 6-2, Metcalf bounced back and won the deciding set 6-2.
Davina Nguyen dropped the first set on court four, but then persevered to take the next two sets, 6-3, 6-2 and pick up the match-tying win and evening the match at 3-3.
Junior Lexi Baylis dropped the first set 7-5 on court five. After fighting off match-point in the second set, she evened things up at 5-5 looking to force a third set. AU's Georgie Axon took a 6-5 lead on a cross-court shot after the two went back and forth throughout the game and eventually secured the victory with a 7-5 second-set win.
"I loved how we responded after doubles," said Bruno. "We were down one point and then 3-0 and that didn't break us at all. Nothing broke us. They had to come out and beat us, we didn't lose. At the end of the day, that is all we can ask for."
The Spartans will continue their five-match homestand when they host Xavier on Sunday, Feb. 12, with the match set to begin at 12 p.m.
Players Mentioned
