Spartans Sweep Past Cleveland State, IUPUI

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State men's tennis moved to 4-0 on the season with wins over Cleveland State (0-1) and IUPUI (0-1) on Saturday at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility.

The Spartans came out hot with a 7-0 sweep of the Cleveland State Vikings in the morning, winning the doubles point and all six singles matches. MSU completed the doubleheader sweep with a 6-1 victory over IUPUI.

"It's great to get two quality wins," said MSU men's tennis head coach Gene Orlando. "We won 7-0 and 6-1, but both of the matches were competitive. We played well in the big moments and just trusted the training we've been doing, and were able to come away with a couple of wins. We'll take it and prepare for next week."

Despite a narrow 7-5 loss at the top doubles spot, Michigan State secured a doubles victory with wins at the No. 2 and 3 spots against CSU. Jack Winkler and Reed Crocker bested their opponents in extra point territory, 7-5 at No. 2. On the third court, Anthony Pero and Luke Baylis defeated JuandeDios Abboud and Austin Staiger, 6-2.

In singles action, freshman Josh Portnoy was the first off the courts with a win in straight sets at No. 6. Portnoy moved to 2-0 in singles play, defeating Cleveland State's Hugo Chatras 6-1, 6-4. Pero came off the No. 5 court with the second singles win for the Spartans, beating Abboud 6-2, 7-5. Playing in the No. 3 spot, Graydon Lair won 7-5, 6-4 over Kade Mindry.

Fellow freshman Max Sheldon won a three-set decision over Clark Bilinovich at the No. 4 spot. After taking the first set 6-1, Sheldon fell 4-6 in the second only to battle back for a 6-4 win in the third set, securing the point for the Spartans. The No. 1 singles court was also a close battle, this time between Winkler and Cleveland State's Maxime Mareschal-Hay. With his opponent up 7-5 after the opening set, Winkler climbed back for a 6-3 victory and 10-8 third-set decision for the win.

Last off the courts was Baylis, winning 7-6 in the first set and bouncing back from a 0-6 second set to take the final set by a 6-4 margin.

In the evening, the Spartans again took the doubles point as Josh Mukherjee and Portnoy won at No. 3, 6-3, over Kamil Kozerski and Blessing Benibo, while Nick Williams and Kazuki Matsuno sealed the point with a 6-3 victory against Alex Jochim and Emil Jankowski on the top court. Sheldon and Carson Gates also picked up a 7-5 victory at No. 2 over Sean Bailey and Colton Morehart.

Gates and Matsuno cruised to straight-set wins in singles at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, to give MSU a 3-0 advantage over the Jaguars.

Williams clinched the dual for the Spartans with a comeback win at No. 1 singles, rallying for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win against Jochim.

On the fourth court, Mukherjee also came back after falling to Jankowski in the first set, 7-6 (7-4), winning 6-4 in the second and taking the third-set tiebreaker, 10-4.

The Jaguars got on the board with a win at No. 3 singles, but Jarreau Campbell closed out the day with a victory at No. 5 against Kozerski, 7-6 (13-11), 4-6, 1-0 (10-4).

The Spartans return to action for a doubleheader next Saturday, Jan. 29 at home vs. Toledo at 10 a.m. and Bucknell at 6 p.m.

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Luke Baylis

Jarreau Campbell

Reed Crocker

Carson Gates

Graydon Lair

Kazuki Matsuno

Josh Mukherjee

Anthony Pero

Josh Portnoy

Max Sheldon

Nick Williams

Jack Winkler