Michigan State University
No. 10 Arizona
36th-Ranked Michigan State Upsets No. 10 Arizona in Big Bounce Back Match
3/12/2025 10:06:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Spartans post second Top 10 Victory for MSU of season.
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State men's tennis soared to a 4-3 victory over No. 10 Arizona, rallying from down 0-1 after the doubles point, Wednesday at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
This is MSU's second top-10 match victory of the season, after defeating No. 7 Kentucky in the Spartans' home opener on January 17.
MSU hits the road again this weekend to resume Big Ten Conference action, as the Spartans take on B1G opponents in Wisconsin and Nebraska.
"This just shows other teams that when we do have a full squad, we're a team to be reckoned with," said Head Coach Harry Jadun. "Arizona came up here, they're playing an indoor match, which they don't do much, but we've had a lot of things that didn't go our way this year. So we're going to enjoy this top-ten win."
MSU won its third-straight home match that came on the heels of five-straight road losses, in improving to 7-5 on the year. Arizona slid to 14-2 overall, having its nine-match win streak snapped, as Wednesday was only the Wildcats' third road match of the dual-match season.
"Losing all of our road matches wasn't what I had expected," Jadun said. "We have tough, tough road matches, where we are the hunted now. We're probably hopefully going to be back in the Top 25, and Nebraska and Wisconsin are looking at us as their ticket into the NCAA Championships, so we've got to be ready for that. We are going to play our hearts out, like our season depends on it."
Using the same doubles lineup from this weekend, junior Ozan Baris and redshirt sophomore Aristotelis Thanos in the No. 1 spot. The brother duo of senior Max Sheldon and freshman Mitchell Sheldon in the second spot for the Spartans. Sophomore Taym Alazmeh and freshman Vuk Radjenovic rounded out the final doubles pairings for the Spartans.
The first win of the day came from Ma. Sheldon and Mi. Sheldon. The doubles duo took on Cabrera/Christensen (UA) where the pairing came back from a 0-2 deficit to win 6-4.
On the next court over, Alazmeh/Radjenovic went up against Gustafsson/Sekachov from Arizona. The Spartan duo fought hard but ultimately fell 2-6.
With the matches tied up, it was up to Baris/Thanos to pull out the doubles point for the Spartans. They challenged Friend/Padgham from Arizona, in a close match the duo fell 6-7 (0-7).
The doubles point went to the Wildcats, which meant that the Spartans needed to dig deep to pull out this upset against Arizona.
Tying up the score for the team was senior Max Sheldon. He took on Filip Gustafsson (UA) and made quick work of his match, winning 6-2, 6-1.
The next point on the board went to Arizona, where there was a re-match between Ozan Baris and Jay Friend. The two of them previously met at the NCAA Individual Championships, where Baris beat Friend in the semifinals. In Wednesday's rematch, Friend found revenge, beating Baris, 6-2, 6-2.
Grabbing another point for the Spartans was Matthew Forbes. The MSU freshman added a check in the win column in his spring season as he beat Alexander Rozin (UA), 6-3, 6-3.
Clinching the victory for the Spartans was freshman Vuk Radjenovic, grabbing the first set, 6-3 but Christensen (UA) won the second set, 6-0. A back-and-forth match between the pairing was hard-fought but Radjenovic pulled ahead and won the match for the Spartans.
With the points in favor of the Spartans, the remaining match between Mi. Sheldon and Kask would be played out.
The duo kept a good match for the spectators but Mi. Sheldon ultimately fell 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (8-10).
Up Next:
The Spartans hit the road to continue their B1G conference play as they take on No. 68 Wisconsin on Friday, March 14 at 5:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. CT and at No. 49 ranked Nebraska on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.
Results
No. 36 Michigan State (7-5, 2-0 B1G) 4, No. 10 Arizona (14-2, 0-0 B1G 12) 3
Arizona vs Michigan State
March 12, 2025 at East Lansing, MI
(MSU Indoor Tennis Center)
Doubles
1. Friend/Padgham (UA) def. Baris/Thanos (MSU) 7-6 (7-0)
2. Ma. Sheldon/Mi. Sheldon (MSU) def. Cabrera/Christensen (UA) 6-4
3. Gustafsson/Sekachov (UA) def. Alazmeh/Radjenovic (MSU) 6-2
1. No. 9 Jay Friend (US) def. No. 4 Ozan Baris (MSU) 6-2, 6-2
2. No. 21 Aristotelis Thanos (MSU) def. Zoren Ludsoski (UA) 6-1, 6-2
3. No. 78 Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Filip Gustafsson (UA) 6-2, 6-1
4. No. 63 Matthew Forbes (MSU) def. Alexander Rozin (UA) 6-3, 6-3
5. Vuk Radjenovic (MSU) def. Caper Christensen (UA) 6-2, 0-6, 6-3
6. Matthias Uwe0Kask def. Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8)
Order of finish: Doubles (3, 2, 1); Singles (3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 6)
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:
3,1,4,2,5,6
Players Mentioned
