Men's Tennis Hosts Marquette and Butler on Saturday

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State men's tennis is back in East Lansing for a pair of matches on Saturday, March 5 inside the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. The action starts at 10 a.m. with a morning match against Marquette followed by a match with Butler beginning at 4 p.m.

The Spartans are currently 8-3 overall with conference play beginning later this month. Marquette holds a 2-8 record with an 0-1 mark in conference play, while Butler is 4-5 overall.

LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State earned a 5-2 victory against a ranked Ball State team in Muncie, Indiana on February 26.

MSU battled back from a 1-0 deficit after doubles play to earn the victory, nearly sweeping singles play with wins on five of six courts.

Freshman Max Sheldon continued his impressive rookie campaign with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Nathaniel Webster at No. 4 singles. Jack Winkler won his second straight No. 1 singles match with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Ball State's Thibault de Negri.

Ball State tied things up at 2-2 when Danilo Kovacevik defeated Graydon lair in a three-set battle at No. 2 singles, but the Spartans rallied for wins in the final three matches of the day en route to the win. Josh Mukherjee and Nick Williams both won in third-set tiebreakers on courts five and six. Wrapping up the victory for MSU was Luke Baylis. After winning his first set 6-1 at No. 3 singles, he fought back from a 5-7 deficit in the second to win in his final set, 6-4.

COACH ORLANDO'S THOUGHTS
"We have a great opportunity to play two solid teams from the Big East this weekend in Marquette and Butler. Both teams are very talented and we know we are going to get their very best! We'll need to be ready."

IN THE RANKINGS
The Spartans made their first appearance in the ITA Tennis rankings this week, taking the No. 75 spot in the team rankings on March 1. Michigan State pulled off a win against ranked foe Ball State last weekend, and senior Jack Winkler upset Middle Tennessee's No. 60 singles player Stjin Slump as part of MSU's match against the Blue Raiders on February 20.

The last time Michigan State cracked the ITA rankings was when the doubles team of Kazuki Matsuno and Nick Williams were No. 47 in the ITA doubles rankings in April of 2021. The pair were ranked as high as 38^th in the country that spring.

SERIES HISTORY VS THE GOLDEN EAGLES AND BULLDOGS
Aside from seeing their opponents in fall tournaments, it's been more than ten years since the Spartans have faced off against either Marquette or Butler in dual competition.

MSU is a perfect 8-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles, with a 5-0 mark in matches played in East Lansing. Last time out, the Spartans faced Marquette in Milwaulkee, coming away with a 4-3 victory in March of 2012.

Against Butler, the Spartans are also perfect, with a 5-0 mark coming from matches all played at home. The last time MSU faced off against the Bulldogs was a 7-0 sweep in East Lansing on March 6, 2010.

UP NEXT
Michigan State heads West next weekend for competition at the Arizona State Spring Break Tournament. Play will begin on Friday, April 11 and run until Sunday, April 13 at the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe, Arizona.

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Players Mentioned

Luke Baylis

Kazuki Matsuno

Josh Mukherjee

Max Sheldon

Nick Williams

Jack Winkler