Michigan State University
Liberty
No. 17 Spartan Men’s Tennis Starts Weekend With A Sweep Over Liberty At ITA Kickoff Weekend
1/25/2025 3:13:00 PM | Men's Tennis
MSU starts ITA Kickoff Weekend off strong.
FORT WORTH, Texas. – No. 17 Michigan State men's tennis opened action at the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Saturday by sweeping Liberty, 4-0, in action hosted by TCU at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
On the court for the Spartans for doubles were two familiar pairings in junior Ozan Baris/redshirt-sophomore Aristotelis Thanos and freshman Matthew Forbes/senior Max Sheldon. The Spartans had a new pairing with sophomore Taym Alazmeh and freshman Mitchell Sheldon.
New partners Alazmeh/Mi. Sheldon took control of the court early from their opponents Chase Robinson and Trey Stinchcomb from Liberty. The Spartan pair held the control and made quick work of the Liberty duo winning, 6-2.
Forbes/Ma. Sheldon put up a good fight on the next court over against Ernest Gouws/Carl Roothman from Liberty, but could not finish their match with a win, losing 4-6.
To secure the doubles point, Baris/Thanos needed to swing the momentum back in favor of the Spartans. With the team backing them up from the sideline, Baris/Thanos used the energy from their teammates to push through and win 6-4.
With the doubles point secured, the Spartans headed to their individual courts to start the singles matches.
Ma. Sheldon was the first Spartan to bring a singles point to the team. His match was against Carl Roothman from Liberty and the Spartan made quick work of his opponent, winning 6-3, 6-1.
Thanos used the power from his doubles win to help him push through to take down Joaquim Almeida from Liberty, 6-2, 6-2.
Freshman Vuk Radjenovic had a tough back-and-forth match against Rodrigo Santiago Arraez but Radjenovic found the fight inside him to take his match to a tiebreaker set. Using the team's momentum and the knowledge that if he won this set he would grab the final team point and secure the team win, Radjenovic pushed through and defeated Santiago Arraez 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. This was Radjenovic's first collegiate singles win.
With the points in favor of the Spartans, the remaining matches went unfinished.
Up next:
The Spartans will continue ITA Kickoff Weekend on January 26, with a match against No. 2 TCU/Pacific at approximately 3 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. CT, or following the previous match.
Results:
No. 17 Michigan State (4-0) 4, Liberty (1-1) 0
Fort Worth, Texas
Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center
Doubles
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No. 94 Ozan Baris/Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) def. Joaquim Almeida/Siwant Auytakakul (LU) 6-4
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Ernest Gouws/Carl Roothman def. No. 107 Matthew Forbes/Max Sheldon(MSU) 6-4
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Taym Alazmeh/Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) def. Chase Robinson/Trey Stinchcomb (LU) 6-2
Singles
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No. 27 Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) def. Joaquim Almeida (LU) 6-2, 6-2
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No. 83 Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Carl Roothman (LU) 6-3, 6-1
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No. 40 Matthew Forbes vs Siwant Auytayakul (LU) 6-1, 1-6, 6-6 UNF
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Vuk Radjenovic (MSU) def. Rodrigo Santiago Arraez (LU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
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Taym Alazmeh (MSU) vs Chase Robinson (LU)7-6, 4-6, 3-2 UNF
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Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) vs Ernest Gouws (LU) 6-1, 1-1 UNF
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (2, 1, 4)
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2,1
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1,4
Players Mentioned
