No. 21 Spartans Earn Comeback Win, Turn Focus to Monday's Affair

MALIBU, Calif. – No. 21 ranked Men's Tennis came back from down 0-2 to take down UC Santa Barbara 5-2 Sunday afternoon, moving to 3-0 on the season in what was the first road test of the young season.

"Great win for the guys today," head coach Harry Jadun said. "UCSB from top to bottom are pretty good but overall, that's one down, I'm excited for our opportunity tomorrow against Pepperdine, we've got to be sharper but the guys are up to the task."

The Spartans won't take much time to celebrate as they will face the defending West Coast Conference champions Pepperdine on Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. ET.

National Title Winners Shine in Season Debuts
Hitting the court for the first time this season were the ITA Fall Doubles National Champions, sophomore Ozan Baris and junior Max Sheldon. Both won decisive singles matches, but first, the ITA's No. 41 pairing of Baris and Ronald Hohmann III teamed up to win at the No. 2 doubles spot.

The first victory together of MSU's top dogs wasn't enough as freshmen Aristotelis Thanos and Taym Alazmeh would fall at No. 1 singles to the ITA's No. 37 duo of Gianluca Brunkow and Pablo Masjuan while Sebastien Collard and Graydon Lair would fall 7-6 in a tiebreak, ceding the doubles point to the Gauchos.

Spartan Win Five Consecutive Matches to Clinch Victory
After Alazmeh dropped his first match of the season at No. 5 singles, the Spartans found themselves down 2-0. No. 12 ranked Hohmann, Collard and Thanos would all respond quickly with straight-set victories, putting the Spartans up 3-2.

It was the 59^th ranked Sheldon, in his first match of the season, who would battle to a 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 6 singles to seal the victory for MSU.

With the match between MSU and UCSB already decided at 4-2, both sides decided to let Baris and Masjuan battle out the last point at the No. 1 singles spot. Despite dropping the first set narrowly at 5-7, the nation's No. 6 Baris broke the nation's No. 19 Masjuan at 4-4, winning the set 6-4. In the tiebreak Baris found himself down again, fighting back from 5-2 to win MSU's fifth point at 5-7, 6-4, (10-7).

Results
No. 21 Michigan State 5 (3-0), UC Santa Barbara 2 (0-1)
Singles
1. No. 6 Ozan Baris (MSU) def. No. 19 Pablo Masjuan (UCSB) 5-7, 6-4, (10-7)
2. No. 12 Ronald Hohmann (MSU) def. Lucca Liu (UCSB) 6-2, 6-4
3. Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) def. Gianluca Brunkow (UCSB) 6-1, 6-3
4. Sebastien Collard (MSU) def. Luka Mrsic (UCSB) 6-2, 6-2
5. Kai Brady (UCSB) def. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) 6-4, 6-1
6. No. 59 Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Conrad Brown (UCSB) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
1. No. 37 Gianluca Brunkow/Pablo Masjuan (UCSB) def. Aristotelis Thanos/Taym Alazmeh (MSUM) 6-2
2. No. 41 Ronald Hohmann/Ozan Baris (MSUM) def. Kai Brady/Lucca Liu (UCSB) 7-5
3. Conrad Brown/Luka Mrsic (UCSB) def. Sebastien Collard/Graydon Lair (MSUM) 7-6 [7-2]

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (5,2,4,3,6,1)

Scouting Pepperdine
On Sunday night the Waves will open their season against Georgia Tech, who received votes in the latest ITA rankings, prior to facing MSU Monday. Pepperdine won the West Coast Conference championship in 2023 and has finished top two in the WCC with eight-win seasons the last three seasons.

Freshman Edward Winter is ranked 23^rd nationally in singles and begins his collegiate career already with multiple pro titles to his name. He pairs up with sophomore Maxi Homberg to make the ITA's No. 43 doubles team.

Series History vs. Pepperdine
The Spartans and Waves have met once before, a 0-7 loss in Malibu on March 10, 2024.

No. 21 Spartans Earn Comeback Win, Turn Focus to Monday's Affair

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Taym Alazmeh

Ozan Baris

Sebastien Collard

Ronald Hohmann

Graydon Lair

Max Sheldon

Aristotelis Thanos