Men's Tennis Prepped for No. 18 Michigan on Wednesday

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan State men's tennis team is back at home this week for the first time since a pair of matches on February 2 against Cornell and Eastern Illinois. MSU will face No. 18-ranked Michigan at home on Wednesday before heading to South Bend, Indiana on Friday to face the No. 12-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Opponent	Date/Time/Location	Season Record	Game Coverage
No. 18 Michigan	February 27, 2019 // 6:00 p.m. ET // East Lansing, Michigan	7-2	Live Stats // Live Video
No. 12 Notre Dame	March 1, 2019 // 3:30 p.m. ET // South Bend, Indiana	8-6	Live Video

ABOUT MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State had success in the Fall with several student-athletes showing signs of improvement heading into 2019. Sophomore Jack Winkler was the team's Fall wins leader with eight and held an 8-2 record over his last ten matches. Ivan Rakic, Billy Shisler and John Carlin each recorded four wins for the Spartans with Colin Harvey picking up three.

Through 12 dual matches the Spartans are led in singles by No. 1 Jack Winkler with a 6-4 record and No. 6 Anthony Pero who is 7-4 in his first year as a Spartan. Winkler leads the team in overall season wins with 14. Pero is 7-2 at No. 6 singles, but has dropped matches at No. 4 and No. 5.

Freshman Carson Gates is third on the team in dual meet victories with five while Rakic and freshman Nick Williams each have three. Winkler is the team's win leader in doubles with four, winning twice with Carlin and Williams.

At No. 1, No. 5, and No. 6 singles, the Spartans have compiled an 18-13 dual meet record. Overall, the Spartans are 27-33 in singles matches.

ABOUT MICHIGAN
Michigan is ranked No. 18 in the February 20 edition of the ITA Rankings, but defeated No. 12-ranked Notre Dame by a 4-3 tally on Feb. 23 to improve to 6-2 on the season. Notre Dame took the doubles point from the Wolverines, who bounced back ad won four matches in singles, including an upset win over the No. 15-ranked singles player Alex Lebedev.

Mattias Siimar, who defeated Lebedev on Saturday, is the Wolverines top ranked player coming in at No. 56 in the last ITA rankings. Siimar is 5-2 at No. 1 singles during the dual meet season.

Andrew Fenty has turned in a solid performance between No. 2 and No. 3 singles with a 6-1 overall record in duals.

ABOUT NOTRE DAME
Notre Dame owns an 8-6 dual record this season, but have lost five straight matches to quality opponents. The Fighting Irish dropped three straight at the ITA National Indoors to UCLA, Columbia, and Mississippi State before falling to Michigan and Ohio State last weekend.

Ranked the No. 12 in the country in the Feb. 20 ITA rankings, Notre Dame boasts a lineup featuring three ranked singles players and one ranked doubles duo. Lebedev is ranked No. 15, Richard Ciamarra is No. 93, and William Howells is No. 111 in the ITA singles rankings. The pairing of Ciamarra and Tristan McCormick is ranked No. 17 in the ITA doubles rankings.

COACH ORLANDO'S THOUGHTS
"We have a big midweek showdown with Michigan this week, a matchup that always brings out the best tennis in both programs and great tennis for our fans. The Wolverines are coming off a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament last year and are currently ranked No. 16 in the nation. We have been training and preparing for this match all year!"

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Players Mentioned

John Carlin

Carson Gates

Colin Harvey

Anthony Pero

Ivan Rakic

Billy Shisler

Nick Williams

Jack Winkler