Michigan State Hosts Marquette Sunday Afternoon

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State women's tennis prepares for the fourth leg of its five-match home stand on Sunday afternoon, as the Spartans host the Marquette Golden Eagles in an 11 a.m. first serve at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.

#UNMATCHED APPROACH
The Green & White return to the courts following an impressive weekend of performances last week against Miami (OH) and Bowling Green. Despite dropping a back-and-forth 4-2 decision to Liberty on Friday night, the Spartans battled back for a pair of team wins that brought MSU's season record to 3-2 overall. In the first match of last Sunday's doubleheader against the RedHawks, Miami managed to score the doubles point on wins at two and three. A closely contested battle ensued in the singles competition, but a thrilling 7-4 performance in the third set tiebreaker from junior Ayshe Can clinched the victory for MSU.

Michigan State's dominance was on display in the weekend finale against the Falcons, as MSU scored its first 7-0 sweep of the 2023 dual match campaign. Despite an early push from Bowling Green in the doubles competition, the Spartans took the doubles point at the bookend positions and utilized six first-set victories in singles to set the tone for the sweep. Graduate Nicole Conard, freshman Juliette Nask and sophomore Liisa Vehvilainen each moved into a tie for the singles lead at MSU with eight wins while the tandem of junior Ayshe Can and Vehvilainen remained atop the doubles leaderboard with eight victories.

LIVIN' LIKE LIISA
Vehvilainen, a native of Turku, Finland, has made her presence on the Michigan State roster felt immediately through the early going of dual match season. The transfer from the University of North Texas published one of the most dominant individual weekend efforts in recent memory at MSU, going 6-0 across her singles and doubles opportunities. Vehvilainen made her debut appearance at the No. 1 singles spot for MSU on Sunday against Miami and Bowling Green, winning in straight sets in both opportunities. Additionally, her dominance in doubles alongside Can continues to set the tone for MSU's doubles point, as the Spartans hold a 3-1 record when the duo takes their top-line doubles contest.

GOING AT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Marquette enters their weekend matinee with Michigan State holding an 0-5 record to start the season. Both squads saw extensive action against one another during the fall tournament campaign, as Michigan State hosted Marquette at both the Spartan Invite and Green & White Dual events earlier in the 2022-23 campaign. The Golden Eagles are fresh off a 5-2 loss to North Dakota at home in Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles snatched the doubles point and scored a singles win at the top line, but failed to register any more as the Fighting Hawks finalized their win with victorious results on the bottom five courts.

MATCHDAY CENTRAL
Sunday afternoon's match will be played at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center, with doors set to open one hour before the start of the match. Admission is free. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot 98 immediately adjacent to the tennis center or utilize the Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA) bus system. Take bus route 38 and get off at the Westbound South Crescent before South Middlevale stop. The tennis center is a four-minute walk from that point.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Sunday's match will be streamed live via Playsight. Fans are encouraged to click here to tune in. Additionally, live scoring for the match between the Spartans and Golden Eagles will be available by clicking here. As always, fans are encouraged to follow along on social media for a look behind the scenes at the MSU matchday experience.

FOLLOW THE SPARTANS
Visit MSUSpartans.com for more information on Michigan State women's tennis. Fans can keep up to date with the Spartan women's tennis team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by following @MSU_WTennis.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ayshe Can

Nicole Conard

Juliette Nask

Liisa Vehviläinen