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Michigan State Men's Tennis Takes Down DePaul And Cleveland State
Jan. 20, 2008 EAST LANSING - Mich. - The Michigan State men's tennis team played host to DePaul and Cleveland State on Saturday at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. MSU turned in strong performances against both teams, downing DePaul, 4-1, then following up with a 7-0 rout of Cleveland State. Senior Nick Rinks led the way for the Spartans, going undefeated on the day in two singles and two doubles matches. Rinks beat DePaul's Austin Doerner, 6-2, 6-2, then Cleveland State's Phil Orno, 6-4, 6-4. In doubles competition, Rinks teamed with John Allare at No. 1 in both doubles matches, first defeating DePaul's Jose Moncada and Austin Doerner, 8-2, then Cleveland State's Phil Orno and Ryan Hamning, 8-6. The Spartans jumped out to a quick lead against DePaul, as they swept all three doubles matches, 8-2, 8-2, 8-4, and won the first point of the match. In addition to Rinks, John Allare overcome a tough first set at No. 2 singles, then mastered a second set win, as he beat Vanja Grgec, 7-5, 6-2. "We definitely knew this was going to be a tough match against DePaul today," said MSU head coach Gene Orlando. "We came out and jumped right on them with those doubles wins. In singles, we got down quick, but we came back and had some big wins. I think that helped our momentum, and we found a way to win." In the second match of the day, MSU again jumped out to an early lead, taking two out of the three doubles matches against Cleveland State. MSU would cruise from there, sweeping the singles competition from the Vikings. At No. 2 singles, Alex Forger came out on fire, taking the first set from Cleveland State's Ryan Hamning, 6-1. Hamning would bounce back in the second set bringing it to a 6-6 tie, but Forger would prevail in the end, as he won the tiebreak, 11-9. In the closest match of the night, Cleveland State's Brad Goleski took MSU's Clark Richardson to tiebreaks in both sets at No. 6 singles, but Richardson countered when it matter most, and played his way to a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), victory.
"It's always exciting to come out and get two wins against quality opponents," said Orlando. "It's tough to go out and play two good teams in one day, but we really stepped it up. We played good tennis against DePaul, and I think that gave us some momentum going into the match with Cleveland State. I'm proud of Rinks, he was an ironman today, and we really need our seniors to be those kinds of leaders." Michigan State returns to action next weekend as it travels to Tennessee for two tough matches against ranked opponents. MSU will square off against No. 51 Middle Tennessee State at 12 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25, then travel to Vanderbilt for a 12 p.m. showdown with the No. 33 Commodores on Sunday, Jan. 27. Results MSU vs. DePaul Singles Doubles MSU vs. Cleveland State Singles Doubles |
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