No. 16 Men's Tennis Successful to Start Blue Gray Classic

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – No. 16 men's tennis continued its hot run of form at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic, winning its 11^th straight to start the season, a 4-1 win over No. 49 Boise State Friday morning.

In the afternoon, MSU, the tournament's two-seed, took the doubles point from No. 44 Auburn, behind two tiebreak wins. While the Spartans hold an overnight 1-0 lead, the singles matches will be played out at 12:30 p.m. Saturday for a shot at the Blue Gray Classic finals.

Following the singles battles with the Tigers, MSU will face either No. 35 Princeton or No. 18 Alabama in the afternoon.

Spartans Secure First Ranked win Over Broncos
It was the second victory over the talented Boise State Squad for the Spartans this season, having also completed a 5-2 win on Feb. 2 in East Lansing, Mich.

MSU claimed the doubles point behind a season debut win from the nation's top-ranked duo of junior Max Sheldon and sophomore Ozan Baris and the graduate student combo of Graydon Lair and Ronald Hohmann III at No. 3.

In singles play, the No. 92 ranked Lair kept the momentum going with a 6-2, 6-3 sweep to stay undefeated at 4-0 and push MSU's lead to 2-0. No. 4 ranked Baris suffered his first loss of the season at No. 2 singles, which cut the lead in half.

The Spartans would answer with consecutive victories, starting with graduate student Sebastien Collard at No. 3 singles, his team-leading eighth win in nine matches. Hohmann followed and clinch the victory for MSU with a 7-6 (7-0), 6-4 win over national No. 43 Sam Sippel. The No. 19 ranked Hohmann improves to 6-1 with a team-high three ranked wins.

Scouting No. 44 Auburn
Auburn comes down the road to the Blue Gray Classic 7-2 on the season, including most recently 4-0 and 4-2 wins over Middle Tennessee State on Friday and Sunday, Feb. 18 respectively. Fifth-year player Tyler Stice is the lone ranked tiger, No. 44 in the latest ITA singles player rankings.

Scouting No. 18 Alabama
The tournament's No. 1 seed, the Crimson Tide, enter Saturday at 9-4 following a first round 4-1 win of their own over Rice. Alabama is 2-2 in top-25 matches on the season with wins over No. 5 USC (4-1, 2/18) and No. 10 Kentucky (4-2, 1/27).

The Tide's squad features two ranked singles players: No. 33 Filip Planinsek and No. 57 Eno Aguiard. Planinsek pairs up with Andrii Zimnokh to make the nation's 35thh ranked doubles team. MSU is 1-6 all-time against 'Bama, all on the road in Tuscaloosa.

Scouting No. 35 Princeton
Following a 4-0 sweep of No. 47 Old Dominion Friday, Princeton is 9-4 on the season. The lone ranked Tiger is Paul Inchauspe at No. 62 in singles. The only meeting between MSU and Princeton was a 4-0 sweep for the Tigers on March 11, 2022.

Results
No. 16 Michigan State 4 (11-0), No. 49 Boise State 1 (6-5)
Doubles
1. #1 Ozan Baris/Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Sam Sippel/Jip van Assendelft (BSU) 6-2
2. Caden Moortgat/Jan Lucca Marquardt (BSU) vs. Sebastien Collard/Taym Alazmeh (MSU) 5-5, unfinished
3. Graydon Lair/Ronald Hohmann (MSU) def. James Van Herzeele/Jett Middleton (BSU) 6-4

Singles
1. #19 Ronald Hohmann (MSU) def. #43 Sam Sippel (BSU) 7-6 (7-0), 6-4
2. Jip van Assendelft (BSU) def. #4 Ozan Baris (MSU) 6-4, 6-4
3. Sebastien Collard (MSU) def. Jan Lucca Marquardt (BSU) 6-4, 7-5
4. James Van Herzeele (BSU) vs. David Saye (MSU) 6-4, 3-6, 5-1, unfinished
5. Jett Middleton (BSU) vs. #88 Max Sheldon (MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 2-3, unfinished
6. #92 Graydon Lair (MSU) def. Caden Moortgat (BSU) 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (6,2,3,1)

No. 16 Men's Tennis Successful to Start Blue Gray Classic

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Taym Alazmeh

Ozan Baris

Sebastien Collard

Ronald Hohmann

Graydon Lair

David Saye

Max Sheldon