16th-Ranked Spartans Win Ninth Straight to Start Season

EAST LANSING, Mich. – No. 16 Men's Tennis powered to a 6-1 victory over Clemson Friday night at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center, starting the season undefeated in it's first nine games for just the second time since 1960.

"First and foremost, I need to thank the fans that came out; it was a full facility, and the atmosphere was electric," Head Coach Harry Jadun said. "Our guys were up for the task today, played some tough tennis, and it's really exciting for me to watch."

The Spartans got out front early, clinching the doubles point. First the pairing of junior Max Sheldon and senior Graydon Lair clinched their team-leading fourth doubles win together in as many games. Top players sophomore Ozan Baris and graduate student Ronald Hohmann III clinched the first point for MSU in their first match together since winning the Battle in the Bay title in the fall.

It was the national No. 11 Hohmann III and No. 6 ranked Baris who performed again in singles in the No. 1 and two singles spots respectively, topping their Tiger counterparts in straight sets to move MSU's lead to three. Baris, the Okemos, Mich. native, remains perfect on the season, now at 5-0.

Also improving his unblemished record was Sheldon. Clinching the match for MSU for the third time this season, the junior's straight-set win moved him to a team-best 7-0 in singles on the season and 12-0 overall.

With the match already decided at 4-0 Spartans, the last three matches played through. Freshmen Aristotelis Thanos and Taym Alazmeh both came back from dropping their first sets to clinch wins in the second and third sets. Thanos, in his first match back from a career-win over the No. 265 player in the world representing Greece at the Davis Cup, notched his first collegiate ranked win over Clemson's No. 111 Noa Vukadin.

Thanos and Alazmeh were serving in the final game of their doubles match at No. 1 singles against the Tigers' No. 33 ranked duo and were up 5-4, but the match was called off as the doubles point had already been won by MSU.

Next, the Spartans head to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt on Saturday, Feb. 17 at noon.

Results
No. 16 Michigan State 6 (9-0), Clemson 1 (2-3)
Singles
1. #11 Ronald Hohmann (MSU) def. Ryuhei Azuma (CU) 6-2, 6-4
2. #6 Ozan Baris (MSU) def. Wissam Abderrhman (CU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) def. #111 Noa Vukadin (CU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 1-0 (10-4)
4. Marko Mesarovic (CU) def. David Saye (MSU) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0
5. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) def. Stewart Aronson (CU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
6. #97 Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Trey Stinchcomb (CU) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles
1. Aristotelis Thanos/Taym Alazmeh (MSU) vs. #33 Max Smith/Noa Vukadin (CU) 5-4, unfinished
2. Ronald Hohmann/Ozan Baris (MSU) def. Stewart Aronson/Marko Mesarovic (CU) 6-4
3. Max Sheldon/Graydon Lair (MSU) def. Ryuhei Azuma/Wissam Abderrhman (CU) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,1,6,3,5,4)

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Taym Alazmeh

Ozan Baris

Ronald Hohmann

Graydon Lair

David Saye

Max Sheldon

Aristotelis Thanos